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Q u A R T E R L y

ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE
•Justifying Budgets and
l Finding Purpose
• Fran ce's Groupe Bull
• Cryptography and Privacy
• How the CIA Uses Banks

JUSTICE IN AMERICA

• Delta Death Row


• For-profit Prisons: Who Profits?
• Environmental Injustice
Leaks from Nuclear
Weapons Facility

INTERNATIONAL
• Israel, Iran, & the Bomb
• U.S. Adviser in El Salvador
Admits Cover-Up and Combat
• School of the Americas Cranks
Out Human Rights Abusers

Fall 1993 (Number 46)


HM I LIKE:,
Bill's First Bomb /-ntr
l'JXl,-:s He: LP...
he message that fell with the
llrurr 1-\11~£ W6 NEe:D

T U.S. bombs on Iraqi intelli-


gence headquarters and civilian
homes a mile away was not lost on the
fl Llni..E M~E
lli!RD WoRLD
~D ...

pundits. Thus far, Bill Clinton, marked by


his anti-Vietnam War stance, had no experi -
ence in that most American of presidential
prerogatives- meting out mega-death
with equanimity. (As governor of Arkan-
sas, he had overseen only a few executions
- including that of a mentally retarded
man.) With the June 26 attack, Clinton was
officially bloodied as commander-in-
chief and leader of the ''free world"
Even before the bodies were dug from
the rubble, the talking heads were assess-
ing the degree to which the attack was
motivated by Clinton's desire to boost his
sagging popularity ratings.
Clinton justified the attack by claiming irrefutable evi - international a.<;sassination, they were seriously incompetent
dence that Saddam Hussein had personally organized an at- - the bomb wa;, never on Bush's intended route.
tempt to assassinate George Bush during the former Furthering speculation that the attack wns designed to
president's April 1992 visit to Kuwait . But even Pentagon promote political rather than strictly military objectives was
officials, according to NBC News, cast serious doubt on the the peculiar timing of the Baghdad bombing - before aver-
conclusiveness of the evidence. Hence, Clinton's carefully dict was reached in the trial of the alleged assassination
couched phrasing at his June 29 news conference: ~our plotters. This premaiUre action may have reflected the Ku-
analysts have no experience of such an operation of that waiti justice system 's low level of credibility. Funhermore,
magnitude being authorized at o ther than the highest level. " the interrogation could, as one senior U.S. official admitted
So suspect were the motives aod proof that the New York in the Los A11geles Times, have been influenced by torture.
Times editorialized: "Let's hear the evidence, rather than While human rights organizations haven't proven tbat these
assenions o f o fficials who say they have it." To date. neither suspects were tortured - a not unusual judicial procedure in
tbe White House, the military, nor the CIA has provided proof Kuwait- they have established that the alleged plotters, in
ofSaddam 's direct invo lvement or even establi~hed the reality violation of Article 14 of the lttternational Covenant on Civil
of the plot. Most of the 14 plotters, it turned out, were penny and Political Rights, were not allowed to see their lawyers.
ante liquor smugglers and, if they were undertaking a major Ignoring this particular violation of international law, the
U.S. justified the unilateral attack under an exotic interpreta-
tion of Article 51 of the UN Chaner, which grants states the
Publishers: Ellen Ray, William Schaap, Louis Wolf inherent right of self-defense. The definition was stretched as
Director of Research: Louis Wolf if in a fun bouse mirror: The U.S. made no differentiation
between a plot and an accomplished act; it equated an assault
Staff: Ca rl Deal. Margaret Hanzimanolis, on a former head of state wit h an attack on a country he no
Faith Holsae rt. Bill Montross. Barbara Neuwirth, longer represented; and it likened retaliation aimed at restor-
Joseph Reilly, S ha ron Reilly, Jane Teller ing political reputation to military action designed to protect
Photography consultant: Dolores Neuman territorial integrity.
Javier Perez de Cuellar, UN Secretary-General during the
Editor: Terry Allen
Gulf War, denounced this arcane application o ft he principle
Cover1Action Quarterly, t 500 Massachusetts Ave., NW, of self-defense. "I regret that this decision was made," he said,
n32 Wasllngton, oc 20005. (202) 331-9763. 33 1-9751 (tax). "and I don't find any way of ju~tifying it."
C<>ver1Action OuaJterly, Number 46, Fall 1993. Published The criminality of the attack is apparent if we imagine that
quanerly, by Covert Action Publications, Inc.. a District or
Columbia Nonprofit Corporation, copyright <C>1993. Indexed any of t he more than 30world leaders who have actually been
by Alternative Press Index, University Microfilms, tSSN 0275- targeted by U.S. assassination plots had bombed CIA head-
309X. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. quarters in Langley, Virginia a nd wiped out a few neighboring
families into the bargain. (Seep. 9.) •

2 CovertAction Number44
CovertAction
Q U A R T E R L Y

No More Mr. Nice Guy: The CIA and Private Prisons: Profits of Crime
Economic Intelligence Phil Smith 26
Doug Vaughan 4 The trend to for-profit prisons raises questions
The CIA touts economic intelligence to jus· about what happens when those running pris·
t ify budgets and redefine its mission. With ons lacl< public accountability and have a vested
shifting alliances and corporations that span Interest in locking up more and more people.
oceans, It's hard to tell friends from foes.
A Decade on Death Row
Hit List Clive A. Stafford Smith 31
William Blum 9 Going up against the justice system, charges
The U.S. retaliated ag~inst an alleged assas· a defense attorney, can be fatal if you are
si nation attempt by Saddam on ex-President poor and black.
Bush by bombing Iraq. Can the dozens of
leaders t he U.S. has tried to kill bomb back? Indefensible Defenses
John Holdridge 35
Israel, Iran, the U.S ., and the Bomb The public defenders system in the Delta is
Israel Shahak 10 collapsing, with some lawyers paid less than
Protected by its nuclear arsenal, Israel seeks $1 an hour and inexperienced counsel bad·
to establish regional hegemony and to pre- gered into handling capital cases.
vent nuclear proliferation. U.S. taxpayers
who pick up the $3.1 billion tab are kept In Nuclear Wasteland: Cold War Legacy
the dark about Israel's new grand strategy.
Ron Chepesiuk 40
~ . In the name of national security, 40 years of
Together Again : nuke production has turned the Savannah
U.S. & Salvadoran Militaries o.;: ~ River area into a national sacrifice zone.
"-.._.....:....
Mike Zielinski 14
The U.S. Is exporting its oxymoronic peace· French Bull: Spies for Profit and Glory
keeper army. Joint operations reinforce the Sal·
vadoran military's new role, improve Its image, Doug Vaughan 46
and promote ARENA in the 1994 elections. French nuc lear might demands a computer
Industry. In order to protect Its G roupe Bull,
the French were prepared to do anything.
School of the Americas/ Assassins
Vicky A /merman 15
NSA's Clipper Chip
For decades, SOA has been training some of
the worst thugs and human rights abusers in
David Sobel 50
the hemisphere. The National Security Agency's efforts to
control t he development and availability of
cryptography threaten personal privacy.
Green Berets in El Salvador
Frank Smyth 20
CIA: Banking on Intelligence
An ex-adviser says U.S. officials hid the com-
-
bat role of U.S. advisers and a pattern of
L-=.~ human rights abuses by the Salvadoran army.
Anthony L. Kimery
Treasury Department and Federal Reserve of·
55

flcials have protected CIA's covert use of banks.


Front Cover photos: Top: Terry Allen, R. James Woolsey; Middle, Bill
Biggart/lmpact Visuals, Ste. Genevieve Jail (Mossouri): Bottom: Andrew
Lichlcn.ottein/ Impac• Vismtls, Jsrneli 5oldier on lebanon border.
Back Cover: Save U!banon, victim of July 1993 Israeli bombing or Lebanon. Letters to the Editor 66
"No More Mr. Nice Guy"
The CIA in Search of Something to Do
The debate on economic intelligence was stoked by the deteriora-
tion of U.S. firms' competitive position- and by the intelligence
agencies' need to redefine their missions in the post-Cold War era.

Doug Vaughan

Last spring, as the incom· The Qinton administra·


ing Clinton administration tion "is taking off the
faced the challenge of eco· gloves," reported the Asso·
nomic decline in a global ciated Press. 4 Henceforth,
market and a new director of the U.S. would no longer
the CIA confronted the task stand idly by. watching its

,,
of re-orienting the Agency to secrets being stolen by os·
a much-changed world, a re- tensible allies and sold back

porter got an envelope in the in the form of cheap pro·
mail. Inside was a 21-page ducts that undercut U.S.
document, "Defense Confi· companies and jobs.
dential," which laid out as- Whether the CIA should
signments for French spies become actively involved in
to steal technological secrets what used to be called in·
from U.S. firms. The docu· dustrial espionage bad be·
ment was authentic. The come, in the words of the
•tnews," however, was not: new director, "t he hottest
The resulting article reprised current topic in intelligence
a plan, first revealed in 1990, policy."5 The problem,
in which the French govern· James Woolsey explained to
ment targeted 49 high-tech his confirmation panel, is
companies, 24 U.S. financial that "not everyone around
institutions, and six U.S. gov· R. James Woolsey
the world plays the game we
1
ernment agencies. The do."6 Among the dirty
"revelation" prompted a belated outcry in Congress and players, the "cheaters," were the French, Japanese, Chinese,
2
official protest, the tenor of which was caught in a quote and Israeli intelligence services which actively gather intelli·
attributed to "a senior intelli§ence official": gence on U.S.-based corr>rations and share it with private or
"No more Mr. Nice Guy." state-owned companies.

Doug Vaughan is a Denver-based investigative n.."P(>rter. His work has, appeared 4. Ruth Smal, "U.S. prepares to toughen stuncc on indu."trial .spying," At·
in rmjor newspaper.; and m.gaz:ines in the U.S., Europe. and Latm America He sociatcd Pre.<S, Dl!llver Post, May l. 1993, p. 02.
conlribt.Cod to the prize.wirvung clocumen&ary film; Homtbo)'<. PIJJI/Un4 D<ctption, S. Associa<ed Press, Hearing of 1M Smme Select Commiaee onlnttlli~ '"' 1M
aod the BBCs a>verago of the BCC and Noncp ca!<S. Om:no Jl<Ojec:B include 1 NominaOo.. of R. James IVoolrey ro Btc:omt Dinaot- of CtiiiTal ln~/6g<'tra.
book (The S<oTdl few 1M lA Pmca lJiJIIWr: Toror tJnd Pn!pagcnda io 1M c...... Fdxuery 2, 1993, !alimony oCR. James Woolsey.
IVaT), an inquuy into the Pan Am tm case, and a screeq>l:iy. 6./bid
I. Frnnl< Gro-ve, "French dra[led massive spy plan on U.S. lnrgelS, documents 7. These epi.sodcs ar~ recounted in Peter SchY.'Cit~er, Friendly Spies: Ho w
show," Knight-Ridder Newspapers, April16, 1993. Amer;ca 'sAllies Are U.ring ECOI•omic &pionaf(e roSteal Our Secrets (New York:
2 Slll311 Bennett, ·•u.s. ails France on lhe carp!i," KnighHUdder Newsl"'f"". as Atlantic Monthly Press, 19')3), n:lying on intelhgcncc: sourc<S; c.f., the CO"''""'·
rq>M1al in Dt:mot:r POISI, MayS, 1993, p. 19A. diwn "'Secunly Awan:ness in lhe l!lros," a collection of feature artu;lc:o from
3. OliOied by John Montz, "CIA: Fronch Targaed Seems of US. Firms," SecurityA • ..,..,... BullnUt. 1981·1989, Secunly Awareoess OMS!On, Education-
WaJhi•tto•Pos~ April27, 1993, p. Ct. al Prognoms Deparuncnt, Dqwtmenl oflld<,... Secunly lnstituoe, RK:hmond, Va.

4 CovertAction Number46
Even the most casual reading of the
French document, however, shows that the
main targets were aerospace and electronics
companies with military technology, rather
than commercial or strictly "economic"
secrets. The leak of the three-year-old paper
was clearly part of a coordinated campaign
to draw out U.S. agencies to spy on
economic competitors. The ensuing debate
was stoked by the deterioration of those
firms' competitive position- and by the
intelligence agencies' need to redefine their
missions in the post-Cold War era.

"They're Robbing Us Blind"


The corpse of the USSR was still warm when
the clamor. fed by leaks and unnamed sources,
rang out for the CIA and other agencies to put
their resources to work for private business. In
early 1989, the CIA, under William Webster,
commissioned an in-house study on the via-
bility of establishing one office to coordinate
intelligence-gathering on the research and de-
velopment efforts of foreign governments, re-
search centers and businesses. The idea had
percolated up from different sections of the
bureaucracy and dripped back down as an Mcwoolo Manlocii"'I
internal policy review .In the end it evaporated The history of U.S. economic Intelligence and sabotage Includes destabilizing
for the usual reasons: Regional desks didn't Chile and fomenting the 1973 anti-AUende coup. Above, some of the thousands
want to give up operational rurf in the face of rounded up In mass sweeps, taken to the stadium, tortured and killed.
impending budget cuL~. Instead, a make-work
project began, interrupted only for Operation Desert Storm. common theme relying heavily on use of the first person
One of the chief purveyors of this view is Peter Schweit- plural possessive. They presented a besieged and friendless
zer. His book, Friendly Spies: How America's Allies Arc America victimized because of its excessive benevolence
Using Economic Espionage To Steal Our Secrets, and ex- and therefore justified in taking aggressive action against
8
cerpted articles rely heavily on former intelligence officials, unscrupulous foreigners. Most of these intelligence veterans
many of whom now work as consultants to private business. were caught off guard when the Berlin Wall fell in November
"Our allies are robbing us blind," wrote Raym ond Rocca, 1989. They were still living in the world they had helped
former Deputy Director. Counter-Intelligence Division, shape after 1945: a world divided into two competing camps.
9
CIA. "If you don't think we're being exploited by friends The policies of the Reagan-Bush era were geared toward
and enemaes." lamented Walter Deeley. former Deputy confronting and defeating an enemy and the dust had barely
Director, National Security Agency. "Buster, you're settled before they conjured a new slew of demons.
10
crazy. " "It has been known for some time that economic The opening salvo was fired at the National Press Club by
espionage takes place. But only now are people startmg to Sen. David Boren (0-0kla.), then chair of the Senate Select
talk about it. The real question is what to do about it,"tt said Committee on Intelligence. Citing anecdotes that would be-
former Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helm~. come familiar fodder over the next four years, he declaimed:
To characterize such sources as biased by their pocket- "The spy race is heating up against commercial targets in the
12
books is perhaps too obvious. These experts sounded a United States. More and more ... [the goal of foreign intel-
ligence agencies'] espionage is to steal our private commer-
8. See Peter Schweitzer, "They're Stealing Our Secrets," TheAmcriG·on Legiun~ cial secrets for the sake of national economic purposes .... We
Sp<elal Supplement. January 1993.
9. Schweitzer. on the du.n jacket of Friendly Spi~.tr. are going to have to think about the role that we want our own
10./bid., p. 3. intelligence service to play in terms of protecting America's
11./bid., p. 283.
12. Asadc from his government prnsion, ror Oi'UT.)k, Helms denvcs l.ncomc &\ commercial and economic interesls around I he world. " 13 By
prC5ident of tbc Wa;bmgton. O.C-bascd Safeer Company, a pnvlle =unty focusing on the "alleged theft" of "our" secrets, Boren
finn he stancd in 1977. He also cllairs the advisory board of the PIIVUS
Company. a consulting firm on national security issues based tn Sliver Spnng.
Maryland and s<aiTcd by former intelligence profC5Sionals. 13. Bor<n. address to the Nauonal Press Club. Washtngwn. D.C. Apnt3, 1990.

Falll993 Covet1Artion 5
diverted attention from the CIA's a competitive edge." Gates replied,
transfer of lethal technology to such predictably, that there should be bet-
"friends" as the Afghan Mujahadeen, ter coordination between agencies.
Iraq, and Iran. For example, more non-proprietary,
The Press Club is a near-perfect fo- unclassified information gathered by
rum for a policy-maker to noat a trial the agencies could be made available
balloon and for a politician to cultivate to business generally through the
14
an image as a deep thinker. Few in Commerce Department. Beyond that ,
the obliging media stopped to ask, for however, he was noncommittaJ.20
example, whether IBM was "losing When pressed to be more specific,
billions and billions" to international Gates defined "three broad tasks" for
piracy, as one of its executives would the CIA in economics. The first was
15 to provide analyse.~ of world econo-
soon claim, or if incompetent man-
agement might at least be a co-culprit mic trends, and intelligence on the
in Big Blue's fall from profitable grace. negotiation positions and strategies
Never mind. A campaign was under of other countries. (None of the sena-
way, and the constant repetition of the tors asked if this would require CIA
theme was necessary for its success. operatives to bug the hotel rooms of
There would be some hitches and glit- foreign diplomats, as the French
ches, of course: "Once you've got the were accused of doing to former
information," pondered a Boren aide, Under-Secretary George Ball when
"who do you give it to? Ford, General he was in Paris for trade negotia-
6
Motors, Chevrolet or Oldsmobile?"t tions.) The second was to monitor
There was also the sticky problem trends in technological develop-
of distinguishing them from us. What ments; and the third was to engage in
about U.S. companies that are partially counterespionage 21 More of the
owned by foreigners? What about for- same, but more of it.
eign-registered companies owned by The ongoing policy revi ew would
U.S. citizens? Not to put it too crassly, consider these tasks, Gates assured
a White House techno-wonk won-
dered, "How would it be disseminated

vantage to foreign competitors'/" 7 Select Committee on Intelligence.


---
the senators, but once confirmed, he
vetoed the idea of sfying on eco-
without at the same time givin§ ad- Dennis DeConcinl (0-Ariz.), chair of Senate nomic competitors? Henceforth,
U.S. int ell igence agencies would
By 1991, the pressure had triggered supply U.S. companies with general
the predictable policy review by the National Security Coun· information to help them compete, but not with information
18
cil at the direction of President Bush which, in turn, that would be illegal if acquired in the United States. "We
prompted a new wave of articles on the foreign economic will not conduct- and have not conducted- industrial
9
threat. t At the September 1991 hearings on the nomination espionage" on their behalf, a CIA spokesperson declared.23
of Robert Gates as Director of Central Intelligence (DC!), Congressional advocates fearful of foreign competition,
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who represents a state with a large however, were not assuaged. Rep. Jack Brooks (D·Texas),
stake in conversion from military to civilian production, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, convened hearings
returned to the theme: "We've got to focus more of our the following spring before his Subcommittee on Economic
assets... on trying to give American industry, American traders, and Commercial Law. A conga line of security experts danced
to the witness table and sang the same song: Foreign govern-
ments were using advanced cryptographic methods to con-
14. see for example, Jay Pe1erzcll, "When Friends Become Moles," Time, May
20, 1990, p. so. ceal sensitive communications, but could also break into
IS. Marshall C. Phdpo, Jr. VICC p<ai<lenl or commercial and U>duslnal relo· commercial telephone, telex, fax, and other cable traffic,
tions,IBM,to Hearings before the HouseJud1caaty Committee, September 16,
1991. quoted in Roben H. Willi arm, "Economic Spying by Foes., Friends Gain intercept microwave relays, and otherwise steal proprietary
Momenlum," Sigmll, July 1992, pp 57-58.
16. Ken l..cvll, of Bon:n 's $tali, quoted in Ned Munro, "U.S. ~ults lndustnal
Spy Role," Defeme News, May 28. 1990, p. 3S.
17. Michelle K. Van Cleave, Bu.llh adminis-trmion a,•i.<dstont director ror national 20. Hc:onngs, op. cit., Scp1ember t6, 1991.
securily a[(aln and general couru;el, Office or SCience on<l T ec~noloay Policy, 21. Gates Te...timon)', "Nonunation of Robcn Gates as Director or Centml
qUOted in Muruo. op. cit. lotc:.Ui.gence/' bearings before U.S. Senate Sc.lccl Comrruuce on Jntclhgenu.
l8.Na1ionaf Security Rniew, " [Nelligence Capabilities: 1992·2005."" lbe September 17. 1991, Vol. I, pp. 580-81.
policy review was inlllnted in March 1991. 22. Richard A. Best, Jr., "lnteth&encc Rcorgamzation Proposals." CRS, Decan·
19. See Richard A. Bcs1, Jr., "The U.S. lnlclligence Communily: A Role in bcr 18,1992 (updAIC<i version).
Supponing Economic Compellhveness?" Congressional R~sea rch Senice 23. Mtke Mansfield, qootcd in Neil Munro, "lnlelligenc:c Community Will Share
(CRS), Libruy or Congn:ss, December 7, 1990. Only Lcp Dala With US. lndusuy," 0./t,...,Ne"'· October 14, 1991, p. 28.

6 CovertActlon Number46
24
information from U.S.-based companies. The French fil-
ched competing Soviet and U.S. firms' bids to supply India
with fighter aircraft and tbe makers of the Mirage jet won the
Woolsey 's Good Connections
bidding. The Israelis slipped a contract for a top-secret air- R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intel-
borne r econnaissance camera to an I sraeli firm. Japanese ligence (DCI), comes to Langley naturally, I.e.,
government agencies were not directly engaged in such through the policy-making councils of the right
·thievery, one official demurred; when pre.ssed to come up wing of the Democratic Party. A graduate of Yale
with a suitnbly damni ng anecdote, he cited a company which Law and Oxford, like Bill Clinton, he arrives via the
pled guilty to transporting information stolen from IBM. (Of Defense Department (policy analyst. 1968-69),
25
course. that was in 19g3, but the point wa.s made.) National Security Council staff, adviser on the
DCI Gates declined an invitation to appear at a public Strategic Arms Umltatl on Treaty (SALT 1), Senate
bearing and identify governments engaged in economic espi- Armed Services Committee staff (1 970-73), and
onage against U.S.-based companies. "Some governments Undersecretary of the Navy in the Carter ad-
...nearly 20 governments overall - are involved tn intel- ministration (1977 -79). He then became a partner
ligence collection activities that are detrimental to our eco- in then-CIA General Counsel Anthony Lapham's
6 Washington law firm, Shea & Gardner {1 979).
nomic interests at some levet...1
Gates was being diplomatic. Or perhaps deliberately Under Reagan, Woolsey served as a consultant
vague to avoid compromising ongoing operations directed at on nuclear weapons policy and strategy.
He advised the Dukakls campaign in 1 988, but
foreign firms or cou nterintelligence ·efforts to stop foreign
kept the ear of his friend Brent Scowcroft who
governments. T hen again, maybe the anecdotal accounts,
became Bush's national security adviser. Under
cited repeatedly in hearing after heari ng, story after story,
Bush, Woolsey was appointed Ambassador and
didn' t amount to much.
U.S. Representative to the Negotiation on Con-
ventional Armed Forces In Europe (1989). His
Smart Weapons, Dumb Policies
tennis partner, Les Aspin, became Clinton 's De -
The campaign for economic spying paused in 1991 while the
fense Secretary. He has been a Director of Martin
campaign for the presidency roared by, but resumed with a
Marietta; British Aerospace, Inc.; Fairchild Indus-
vengeance as the Clinton-Gore crowd took office. At first, their
tries; Titan Corporation: and DynCorp.
nommee for Director of Central Intelligence appeared out of
Between 1968 and 1970, while his official biog-
step with the administration's "it's the economy, stupid" march- raphy indicates he was simply a Program Analyst
ing song. In his pre-nomination declamatioD>, Woolsey seemed in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Woolsey
stuck for a way to relate intelligence concerns back to the new revealed at a July 28, 1993 congressional hear-
administration's economic agenda. He drummed away on the ing that he was ·analyzing remotely piloted
message that the collapse of the Soviet Union, combined with vehicles and satellites for the National Reconnais-
the spread of advanced weaponry, had returned us to "a more sance Office," a super-secret and massively-
27
lethal version of the world than existed before 1914." funded Pentagon unit that has been known of for
At his confirmation hearings, Woolsey waxed zoological : years but the name of which was only formally
The Soviet dragon may have been slain but the world is still acknowledged by the government very recently.
a dangerous place. "We live now in a jungle filled with a NRO runs the space satellites carrying "mil itary
bewildering variety of poisonous snakes and in many ways payloads." •
2
the dragon was easier to keep track of. " 8 Slithering through
the landscape were terrorism. nationalism. fundamentalist
Islam, drug traffickers. and the usual repulian leaders who highly pro£itable for U.S. corporations. The technology, how-
threatened the picnic. ever, can fit as neatly in smar1 bombs as in smart computers.
Woolsey would have to face, or cleverly avoid. a con- In his first public ~peech as DC!, however, Woolsey
tradiction: The venom of U.S. enemies derives its power from seemed to have gotten the message emanating from the White
the very process of research, development, and transfer of House. He put economics at the top of his list of priorities,
technology that capitalism is supposed to stimulate. For and emphasized the need to analyze and predict the perfor-
example, the development and export of semiconductors is mance of the worl d economy, and various national
economies. That impli es, for example, the need to monitor
international monetary flows, which means in turn (although
24. Sec: tc:.sumon)· of Milton J. Socolar, special asststant 10 the Comptroller
Genemt, Oeneral Aa:ounting Office, before Jack Brook$ ' {D·Texo.<) Subcom· he didn't mention it) more stringent and extensive regulatory
nUttcc on Eeonom1cand Commercia] Law, March 1992. requirements on financial institutions to report transactions.
25./bid.
26. /bid. Hence, more intensive means of monitoring compliance. So,
1:1. R. Jomes Woolsc:y, •·n.. End of tbc Cold Wu: Wilen: Do We Qo from more and bigger, faster computers. But also, necessarily,
Here.?" remarks at Ihe Smithsonian lnstjtulion D1Sttngu1Shcd Speakers Program. expertise in unauthorized access- hacking- that is, steal-
Washtogton. 0 C. March t t, 1993.
28- Intelligence Hcanng.s. op. <i•, February 2, 1993. ing data about private transactions from private data bankl..

Falll993 CovertAction 7
Domestically, the implications for civil liberties are ob- what if the U.S.-based company is the culprit, like Lockheed
vious. So, too, are the temptations to use such information to in the early 1970s? Should tbe spies tell the foreign target?
speculate in stock, commodity futures or currencies to benefit Should they tell the foreign cops? Should they keep their
either individuals or the Agency itself. Internationally, the mouths shut and blackmail Lockheed? How exactly does one
CIA has a long history of using economic information for go about defining an "American" company anyway?
economic sabotage, embargo, manipulation of markets, and
creation of artificial shortages of critical commodities to Intelligence va. Counterintelligence
provoke unrest.29 Since most economic intelligence is gleaned from "open" sour-
Woolsey was aware of the controversial foreign policy ces (newspapers, magazines, books, repons of government
ramifications and worried publicly that the Agency would get agencies, universities and think-tanks) control over access is
embroiled in essentially private disputes that could com- difficult to regulate. Increasingly, the sheer quantity of sources
promise its mission. He took pains to distinguish between a ensures that only those with the financial and technical ability
simple extension of traditional intelligence - which has al- to obtain and analyze the data will be able to put it to use. Uke
ways sought to determine the economic capacity of potential capital , information is being concentrated in fewer hands. News
adversaries- and CIA spyi ng on friendly nations for the organizations, privately owned databases, electronic informa-
benefit of U.S. corporations. "I think down that path lies peril tion utilities- al l private enterprises - guard this information
for the community," warned his predecessor, Gates.30 in order to maintain a competitive advantage, or sell it as a
This wariness was shared by many in the Cold War genera- commodity for profit. How will the CIA fit into this? As just
tion of intelligence officers who were motivated, or so they another customer for CompuServe?
say, by something more than mere lucre. When one false step "We don't have a workable policy to address this question
could bring mass destruction, economic espionage seemed in a meaningful manner," says Sen. Frank Murkowski (R·
both unseemly and petty. "The fact that one of your allies was Alaska), one of those pushing for the CIA to get into business
spying on one of your companies was deemed unimportant," as a provider of economic intelligence.l 5 Why, then, not
recalls Colby.l 1 privatize the operation and let the CIA support itself by
A station chief once reported to Admiral Stansfield Turner selling intelligence to the bighes1 bidder? Better yet, go all
(DCI 1977-81) that a source had reported data on bids sub- the way and make the Agency the manufacturer of the infor-
mitted by two foreign companies competing with a U.S. mation and turn a profit.
company for a foreign conuact. Asked what he did with the Economic counterintelligence encompasses identifying
tip, the station chief said, "I didn 't do anything with it. We .~~igrtsptes and ere:!enting_!hem from stealing proprietary
don't have a policy to deal with it .''32 Turner tried to remedy information- trade secrets, intellectual property like pat-
that by pushing the community to share counterintelligence ents, andtechnology itself, especially in commodities with
with private companies. The other agencies resisted and the potential military application. According to Woolsey, that
policy remained inchoate. mission is a legitimate function of the intelligence com-
In the post-Cold War era, Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D- munity. This position actually represents a shift in emphasis
Ariz.). chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, worth noting and watching: Before Stansfield Turner's ten-
actually wants the CIA to use its capabilities to mount covert ure, it was considered bad policy to notify the target of
operations against foreign business. "Every two or three foreign espionage. The revelation could compromise sources
years while I was in intelligence some turkey would come up and methods. Now, the CIA's proposal to engage in economic
with this idea," says the former director of NSA, William counterintellige nce has revived an old turf war with the FBI.
Odnm. "I'd quash it. ..33 Last summer, the FBI revised its list of threats posed to
Not anymore. Republican lawmakers, especially, have national security by foreign intelligence agencies. At the top,
been anxious to unleash the spooks on the competition. acquisition of sensitive technologies by hostile power~ next,
"Economic intelligence is going to be increasingly important "industrial proprietary information and technology.''3
to our country," says Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.). also on the
intelligence committee. If the CIA or NSA learns that foreign Consistent Abuse
competitors are bribing customers, Danforth and others sug- The hubbub over industrial espionage- should we or
gest, the Agency should notify the target. 34 No problem, but shouldn't we- is a dissimulation to the extent that it suggests
the CIA never did it and promises never to do it again. The CIA
29. CUba, 196t ·present; ChUc,l970.73; Vietnam.l965·pn:•cnl; and Iraq 1991· has always spied on foreign governments and corporations for
p~nt an: a rew CJ<amplcs or U.S. usc or ccooomie wc:apons to clcstabi!JU
the benefit of U.S.-based companies. More important, the "us
uncooperative regimes.
30. Wool<ey, q>. cit.; Oates quoccxl rrom ronfimntion bearing. Scptemb<r t6, 1991. versus them" rhetoric that pervades the debate help5 to foment
31. Thomas Omcstad. "Ooak and Dagger as R&D: The Fn:nch Do It The Brits hostility and xenophobia: Who is this "we" they're talking
Do It But Corpontc Spying May Not Be ror U5," W<UIIi~gton Post June 27,
1993, p. C2. about, anyway?
32. Gerold F. Seib, "Bu.<incss Secrets: Some Urge OA to Go Funher in (continued on p. 59)
Gathering Economic Intelligence," Wall Stru/Journal, August 4, 19'>2. p. AI.
33. Omcstad. q>. cit. 35. Seib, op. cit.
34. Seib, op. cit 36. Omestad, op. cir

8 CovtrtAction Number46
HIT LIST
William Blum
The U.S. bombing of Iraq on June 26, in retaliation for an alleged Iraqi plo t to assassinate former
President George Bush, "was essential," said President Clinton, "to send a message to those who engage
in state-sponsored terrorism ... and to affirm the expectation of civilized behavior among nations.N 1
Following is a list of prom inent foreign individuals whose assassination {or planning for same) the U.S.
has been involved in since the end of the Second World War. The list does not include several assassina-
tions in various p arts of the world carried out by anti-Castro Cubans em ployed by the CIA and
headquartered in the U.S. Do all these countries now have the right to bomb Langley?

1949 Kim Koo, Korean opposition leader


1950s CIA/Neo-Nazi hillist of numerous political figur('S in West Germ any
1955 Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama
1950s Chou En-lai, Prime Minister of China, several attempts on his life
1950s Sukarno, President of Indonesia
1951 Kim ll Sung, Premier of North Korea
1957 Gamal Abdul :'\asser, President of Egypt
1955 Jawaharlal :'\ehru, Prime Minister of India
1958 Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Kasscm, leader of Iraq
1959, 1969-72 l\'orodom Sihanouk, leader of Cambodia
1950s-70s Jose Figueres, President of Costa Rica, two attempts on his life
1961 Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo {Zaire)
1961 Gen. Rafael Trujillo, leader of Dominican Republic
1963 Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam
1960s, late 1980s Fidel Castro, President of Cuba, many attemp ts on his life
1960s Raul Castro, high official in government of Cuba
1965-66 Charles de Gaulle, President of France
1965 Pierre Ngendandumwe, Prime Minister of Burundi
1965 Francisco Caamafto, Dominican Republic opposition leader
1967 Che Guevara, Cuban leader
1970-73 Salvador Allende, President of Chile
1970 Gen . Rene Schneider, Commander-in-Chief of Army, Chile
19'70s General Omar Torrijos, leader of Panama
1972, 1988-89 General Manuel Koriega, Chief of Panama Intelligence
1975 Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire
1976-79 Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica
1982 Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran
1983 Miguel d'Escoto, Foreign Minister of Nicaragua
1984 The nine comandan tes of the Sandinista National Directorate
1985 Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanese Shiite leader (80 people killed in the attempt)
1981-87 Muammar Qaddafi, leader of Libya
1990-91 Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq

William Blwn is the author of The CiA, A Forgouen Hisrory: U.S. Glo/xJ/lnten.,ntiont Sina World W•r 1 (London, NJ.: Zed Booioo, 1988).
1. Alexander Cocl<l>urn, "An Altack A> Am<ncao A> Apple Poe," W>s Angeles Timu. June 29, 1993.

Fall 1993 CovertAction 9


Israel, Iran, the U.S., & the Bomb
"Th e war in Leb anon is the firs t stage in our conflict with Iran." - Ffmim Shah. Knt:l$dmmrbtr 1

Israel Shah ak

or years, stonewalling in
F the face of mounting and
eventually irrefutable evi-
dence, Israel denied all
reports that it had built a nu-
clear bomb. Now openly ac-
knowledged, its substantial
nuclear arsenal forms a grim
backdrop to the Middle East
political landscape.
While the role of these
weapons is discussed in Israel,
the implications of the world's
fifth largest nuclear force are
all but ignored in the U.S. In
the country whose taxpayers
foot the bill for the Israeli pro-
gram, the media spotlight
only the "threat" of nuclear-
ization by other states in the
region. And in Israel, this
threat and the national com-
. mitment to remaining the
only nuclear state in the re-
gion, are touted as justifica-
tions for developing and
possibly using the bomb.
Israel Sbat\ak i.s Emeritus Profes.'IOr of Chem-
istry a1 the Hebrew University In Jerusalem.
Photo: Bill Blggartllmpact Visual<. Israeli sol·
dier on tbe Israti·Jordan border
I. YMiorAlln>nor. July 30, 1993.

10 CovertAction Number46
On April 17, 1992, Deputy Chief of
Staff, General Amnon Shahak-Lipkin,
indicated how far he believed Israel was
prepared to go to prevent Middle East
nuclear proliferation? "I believe that
the State of Israel should from now on
use all its power and direct all its efforts
to preventing nuclear developments in
any Arab state whatsoever." The inter-
viewer then asked the General: "Does
this imply the need for violent means as
well?" Shahak-Lipkin barely couched
his answer: "In my opinion, all or most
means serving that purpose are legiti -
mate." Clearly, the deputy chief of staff
was not discounting an Israeli nuclear
first strike.
Currently, the most likely target for a
preemptive Israeli strike, either conven-
tional or nuclear, is not Arab but Iranian.
There is widespread speculation backed
by some hard evidence that Israel is
forming anti-Iranian coalitions and prod-
ding the U.S. - either by itself or
through its allies- to destabilize Iran ancVor take out its zealotry. Israel has its "red Lines" which, precisely because
developing nuclear capability. Israel 's new anti-Iranian poli- they are not clearly marked or explicitly defined, have a
cy can only be understood in the broad context of its hege- powerful deterrent effect by virtue of causing uncertainty
monic aims. beyond its borders. The purpose of these "red lines" is to
determine which strategic developments or other changes
Grand Strategy occurring beyond Israel's borders can be defined as threats
The scope of the new Israeli grand strategy was set forth by which Israel will regard as intolerable, to the point of
General Shlomo Gazit (reserves), a former Military Intel- feeling compelled to use all its military power for the sake
ligence commander. The area of military intelligence is re- of their prevention or eradication. [Emphasis added.]
garded as the most important component of the intelligence
community. It is composed of Massad (which operates out- In Gazit's view, by "protecting" all or most Middle East-
side Israel and the areas it physically occupies), Shabak (the ern regimes, Israel performs a vital service for "the industrial-
General Security Service which operates within Israel in the ly advanced states, all of which are keenly concerned with
Occupied Territories) and in the "security zone'' of South guaranteeing the stability in the Middle East."
Lebanon, and Military Intelligence (which operates as a
branch of the army). The Military Intelligence commander In the aftermath of the disappearance of the USSR as a
reports to the prime minister on behalf of all groups on political power with interests of its own in the region, a
matters of strategic imponance. number of Middle Eastern states lost a patron which guar-
After his retirement, Gazit became a member of the pres- anteed their political, military and even economic viability.
tigious Yaffe Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv Univer- A vacuum was thus created, with the effect of adding to
sity. His frequent articles on intelligence and strategy are the region's instability. Under such conditions, the Israeli
remarkable for their lucidity and their highly placed sources. role as a strategic asset in guaranteeing a modicum of
stability in the entire Middle East, far from dwindling or
Israel's main task has not changed at all, and remains of disappearing, was elevated to the first order of magnitude.
crucial imponance. The geographical location of Israel at Without Israel, the West would have to perform this role
the center of the Arab-Muslim Middle East predestines by itself, when none of the existing superpowers really
Israel to be a devoted guardian of stability in all the could perform it, because of various domestic and interna-
countries surrounding it. Its [role] is to protect the existing tional constraints. For Israel~ by contrast, the need to inter-
regimes, to prevent or halt the processes of radicalization, vene is a matter of survival.
and to block the expansion of fundamentalist religious

2. Yaakov Ercz and Immanuel Rozen, Ma'ariv, April 17, 1992. 3. Shlomo Gazil, Yediot Ahrono4 April 27, 1992.

Fall 1993 CovcrtAction 11


What Could Trigger an Israeli Strike
Under the new grand strategy, former Military In- socio-economic ills." Nonetheless, any revolt
telligence chief Shlomo Gazlt distinguishes three could destabilize Israel's relations with the af-
processes of radicalization "which qualify as intoler- fected regime. "The prime examples of such a
able" to Israel: red line are the concerns for the preservation of
• Actaofantl-lsraellterrorlsm originating from Israel's peace treaty with Egypt and of the de-
the territory o f another state. Retaliation can facto peaceful cooperation between Israel and
be not only in Israel's immediate defense, but Jordan. In both cases, Israel's red lines com -
also in the "best interest" of an Arab govern- municate to its neighbors that Israel will not
ment. Gazit reasons: •An Arab government al- tolerate anything that might encourage the ex-
lowing a terrorist organization to run free, cre- tremist forces to go all the way, following in the
ates a monster which sooner or later will turn footsteps of either the Iranians to the east or the
against it. If it does not take steps to halt any Algerians to the west.•
development hostile to Itself and to reestablish
its total control, it will eventually cease to rule its Insurrectionary potential, according to Gazit, Is the
own country.• most important factor and is meant to legitimate the
• "Any entry of a foreign Arab military force extension of "Israeli Influence" well beyond the Arab
onto the territory of a state bordering Israel," countries neighbo'r lng lt. "I ndirectly, it also radiates
I.e., Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Again, Gazit onto all other states of our region. In almost all of
ascribed Israeli motivation to benevolent con- them, some kind of radicalization is going on, except
cern: Such an incursion also poses "a threat to that the radical forces are deterred from pushing all
the stability of the regime of the country thus the way out of fear that their maximalism might
affected, and sometimes also to the latter's sov- prompt Israel to respond. Although no one w ould say
ereignty. There can be no doubt, therefore, that so openly, I am positive that the regime of President
the Israeli red line which deters and prevents
Mubarak benefits from such an Israeli deterrence. If
entries of foreign Arab military forces to coun-
power (in Egypt] is ever seized by Islamic extremists,
tries neighboring with Israel, is also a stabilizing
factor which in fact protects the existing states they will at once have to decide whether to recognize
and regimes in the entire Middle East." the peace treaty with Israel as binding them or not. It
• " Threata of a revolt- whether military or will be a most difficult decision for them. If they do
popular-which may end up bringing fanatical recognize the treaty, they will compromise their own
and extremist elements to power in states con- ideology. And if they don't recognize it, they will at
cerned. • These threats arise not out of the Arab- once have a war for which they cannot possibly be
Israeli conflict, but because the regimes of the ready." 1 •
region "find it difficult to offer solutions to their I. All quo1es from Shlomo Owl, Y•u•Ol Ahrono4 April27, 1992.

An Iranian Bomb
So far, Israel has abjured the use of nuclear weapons. But that army, is widely regarded as one oft he best informed strategic
stated reluctance -like that of the U.S.- is tactical rather experts. He declared:
than moral or absolute. That Israel is prepared to go to war
to defend its perceived interests is beyond doubt; that it has (I]t is still possible to prevent Iran from developing its
a large arsenal of nuclear weapons and a sophisticated deliv- nuclear bomb. This can be done, since Iran threatens the
ery system is also well-established; but the circumstances interests of all rational states in the Middle East. We should
that would promote a decision to use the bomb are less clear. therefore do all we can to prevent Iran from ever reaching
Some Israeli experts see the expected nucleari zati on of the nuclear capability. Israel cannot possibly put up with the
Middle East in general and of Iran in particular as sufficient nuclear bomb in Iranian hand~.lfthe Western states don 't
threat to justify any prophylactic action. do what is their duty, Israel will find itself forced to act
Although Israeli censorship on the subject is strict, the alone, and will accomplish its task by any means con-
4
subject was discussed at a symposium held by the Yaffe sidered suitable for the purpose. [Emphasis added.]
Center. One of the speakers, Knesset Member Efraim Sneh
(Labor), who had served in intelligence-related jobs in the 4. Yo'av Kasp1. " Hocam," AIHDmlsirmiJr(Fnday Supptcmenl). May 21, t993

12 CovertActlon Number46
Israel is unlikely to overthrow the pres-
ent regime, to win a military victory with The Middle East
conventional weapons, or to convince Iran
to abandon plans for nuclearization. Given
this military context, Sneh's pronounce-
ment can be seen as a veiled threat to strike
at Iran with nuclear weapons.
Nor are Israeli leaders confident that
intelligence can accurately assess the pro-
gress of nuclearization programs or even
know when and if a bomb and delivery
.......... H-<l
system are on line. Aware of past failures
of intelligence units,5 Sneh warned:
··-
-~

If, despite all our precautions, weare con·


fronted with an Iran already in possession
of nuclear installations and in mastery of
launching techni ques, we would be better
off if the explosive charge of the Israeli-Arab conflict is by
then already neutralized through signing peace treaties
Shah's nuclear program. ''If not for the Khomeinist revolu·
tion," he argues, "Iran would have already been at a very
-
with states located in our vicinity- concretely with Syria, advanced stage of nuclearization." Reviewing the status of
Jordan, and the Palestinians. We would also be better off othe r countries, Feldman presumes that: Pakistan already has
if, until that time, we succeed in building alliances with nuclear weapons; Egypt and Libya, despite renouncing their
Middle Eastern states interested in fighting Islamic fun- nuclear ambitions still retain technical potential, and thus
damentalism. It would be good for us if all sane slates of remain •·a mild threat" to Israel; Syria presents an "even
this region unite to resist all forces of radicalism.6 milder" threat; Iraq's nuclear capability has been destroyed;
and Jordan and Saudi Arabia have no nuclear potential. Apart
Also auendiog the symposium was Genewl Avihu Ben· from Iran, then, Feldman asserts that only Algeria poses a
Nun (reserves), who served as commander of the Israeli Air "serious" nuclear threat to Israet. 8
Force until the end of 1992. Before and during the Gulf War,
he was one of the most important advocates of Israeli inter- Israeli Army Defines New Strategy
vention into that war who agreed with Sneh that preventing Nuclear policy makers and political analysts such as Ben-
nuclearization of Iran might not be possible. Even if an Nun, Sneh, and Feldman arc cognizant of and strongly in-
Israeli-Iranian war broke out after Iran nuclearized, be reas- fluenced by changes taking place within the Israeli army.
sured, the threat of Israeli retaliation - considered feasible According to Shlomo Aharonson, a veteran expert on Israeli
by the Arab world - was a powerful deterrent against an nuclear strategy with close establishment connections, the
Iranian first strike. And if that was not sufficiently discourag- old and "deeply entrenched strategic doctrine" guiding the
ing, the U.S. would launch a nuclear retali ation. "But Iran Israeli army was developed in the early 1950s by Yigal Alton,
will also have another reason for refraining from using its the most distinguished command~r in the 1947-49 war. It
atomic bomb against Israel,'' Ben-Nun continued, "the fear aimed at winning a smashing victory in the shortest possible
of destroymg the Islamtc hoi~ sites in Jerusalem. The holy time. Under this old doctrine, Aharonson comends, Israel
sites are our best deterrent." This statement. considered too needed nuclear weapons because "Al ton conceived of the
crass even for an Israeli general. was ridiculed by some Arabs as irrational, barbarous, and cuuhroat characters, in
commentators. 7 contrast to us, (who are) shaped by ' humanistic traditions. •
Policy expert Shay Feldman of the Center for Strategic Consequently," Aharonson explains, "I srael should always
Studies at Tel Aviv University concurred. Although Iran is be the first 10 allack in order to conquer territories and then
now trying to reactivate two nuclear reactors built under the to offer to cede some of them as a bargaining chip to auain
Shah, "the Iranian leaders will not behave irrationally enough peace. But the whole thing was bound to recur again and
... [to) risk the total devastation of Iran that would result from again." Altho ugh Allan - perhaps restrained by his
an Israeli [nuclear] retaliation." Feldman blames Iran's cur· friendship with Iranian secret police comm anders- didn't
rent level of nuclear technology largely on Israel's short- define Iranian "nature," he probably joined other Israeli
sighted covert support- in defiance of the U.S. - for the strategists in regarding them as no better than the Arabs. 9
(continued on p. 60)
S. 'The inability or in1elligcnct to pred1ct accurately Saddom Hussein'' incursion
into Kuwaitis otlcn tiled ao; one of the numc:rous failures of Israeli intelligence. 8. Ibid.
6. Yo'av Ka,.pi,op. cit. 9. Shlomo Aharonson, "Ha'olam H<t1...c," 1/u'uretz. Aprl121, 1993; and Aluf
7. Ibid. Ben, Ha 'arm. Apnt 25, 1993.

FaU1993 CovertActioo 13
Together Again:
The U.S. and Salvadoran Militaries
Mike Zielinski

What do Somalia, St. Louis, re-militarization of Salvadoran so-


and El Salvador have in com- The joint maneuvers are intended ciety as well as repair the armed
mon? They'reall current sites for forces' battered publi c image.
U.S. Army "humanitarian aid" to craft a benign image for a The armed forces have been on
missions. El Salvador is the latest military associated not with the defensive ever since the re-
beneficiary oft he Pentagon's civic lease of the United Nations Truth
action programs as 450 U.S. sol-
building schools but bombing them. Commission's report in March.
diers embark on training exercises The U.N. concluded that the
with the Salvadoran military. army bore responsibility for the
On July 21, 1993, ElSalvador 's Foreign Ministry unveiled vast majority of human rights abuses over a ten-year period,
plans for the largest ever U.S.-Salvadoran joint military exer- ranging from the 1981 massacre of more than 400 peasants
cises.1 Operation "Strong Roads" will involve up to 500 U.S. at El Mozote, to the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, their
troops and extend to August 1994. The joint maneuvers are housekeeper and her daughter.
intended to craft a benign image for a military associated not
with building schools but bombing them. Influencing Elections
The timing of "Strong Roads" may aid ARENA's re-election
Finding a Role for the Military campaign. Nationwide elections are slated for March 1994,
The exercise comes at a time when the role of the armed with every elected office- from municipal councils to the
forces is a subject of intense debate in El Salvador. The 1992 presidency - on the ballot. By providing impoverished
Chapultepec Accords, which ended a decade of civil war, communities with potable water and schools, ARENA is cast-
mandated that the military stop acting as an internal security ing itself in a benevolent role and using its incumbency to
force and only be deployed to repel external attack. The eclipse the opposition.
Accords also ordered a sharp reduction in troop numbers and The exercises allow the Pentagon to maintain an active
the removal of officers with a history of human rights abuses. presence in Central America even though it's no longer pitted
Throughout the past year, however, the military and its against an insurgency in El Salvador. U.S. military leaders
patrons in the ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance) gov- continue to cultivate close ties to their Salvadoran counter-
ernment have sought to strengthen the army's role by redefin- pans. General George Joulwan, head of the Panama-based
ing its mission to include the war on drugs, fighting crime, U.S . Southern Command, visited El Salvador on July 22 to
and engineering projects serving the civilian population. meet with the new leadership of the Salvadoran armed forces.
On July 16, the government mobilized "anti-crime" He prom ised the prompt release of $11 million in military
patrols involving up to 3,000 soldiers. The Catholic Church aid, which was suspended in February pending a purge of
and human rights organizations denounced this move as human rights abusers from the officer corps. Joulwao was
antithetical to the spirit of the Peace Accord~ which call for presented with a gold medallion for "distinguished service"
2
a gradual demilitarization of the country. by Defense Minister Humberto Corrado and informed the
"Strong Roads" will bolster that image of civil service. Salvadoran High Command that the U.S. military "will ac-
According to the Pentagon's press office, the first phase, company you in your transition as true friends."3
running from mid-August until December I 993, will deploy Throughout the war. the Pentagon and its Salvadoran
U.S. troops, prim arily drawn from the Army, Navy, Air Force, allies attempted to win "hearts and minds'' with civic action
and reserve units to work with Salvadoran military units on program s which served as prototypes for "Strong Roads."
programs such as digging wells and building schools. From "San Vicente '83" to "United to Reconstruct" in 1986,
ARENA is hoping that "Strong Roads," coupled with the these programs failed to erase the army's murderous image.
army's renewed use as a security force, will facilitate a With "Strong Roads," the U.S. and Salvadoran government'
are prepared to give it another try, demonstrating that for the
Mike Zielinski is political director of the Conunittee in Solidarity with tht military there is life after the end of the Cold War. •
People of El Salvador. C1SI)L.S.
;em El Sai>.Gax, July 19-26, 1993.
I. E1 Ructl~e Humon Ri/lhtr {)q>anmelll RqxHt
2. "Ncwsbnefs," ProcuoS71, July 14, t993. 3.£1 MunDo, July 23. 1993.

14 CovertAction Number46
I

SOA-School of Assassias
Vicky A. !merman

O n March 15,1993, the United Nations Truth


Commission released its Report on El Sal-
vador and cited over 60 Salvadoran officers for
distinguished alum ni. Honorees were
no"'" from Latin America for award cere-
monies attended by local VIPs, military
ordering, executing, and concealing the major atrocit ies brass, and occasional Congress members. " If
of ten years of civil war. At least 75 percent of the [SOA] held an alumni association meeting,"
censured officers trained at the U.S. Army School of the said Rep. Martin Meehan (0- Mass.) in
Americas (SOA) during thei r military careen•. School comman- 1993, "it would bring together some of the
dant Jost Alvarez denied the involvement of SOA graduates in most unsavory thugs in the hemisphere.''2
war crimes and called critics "ignorant" and "uninformed." For its premier Hall of Fame inductee, SOA chose ex-
One of this nation's most secretive schools, SOA was Bolivian dictator Hugo B~nzer Suarez. Having come to pow-
established in Panama in 1946 to promote regional stability er in a violent coup. he developed the "Banzer Plan" in the
and train U.S. soldiers in jungle warfare. It evolved to teach 1970s which "brutally suppressed tin miners and chu rch
low intensi ty conflict, psychological operations (PSYOPS), workers"3 and effectively silenced critics of his regime.
and intelligence gathering to some of the worst dictators, war Other recipients included: a drug trafficker (Gen. Humberto
criminals, and violators of human rights in the hemisphere. Regalado Hernandez), a notoriously corrupt dictator (Gen.
In their heydays of military abuse, Bolivia in the '60s , Nica- Policarpio Paz Garcia), and a chief of intelligence who over-
ragua (under the Somoza\) in the '70s, and El Salvador in the saw the assassination of thousands of suspected dissidents
'80s were all pnmar~ chen" of the SOA. (Gen. Manuel Antonio Callejas y Callejas).
As the notonet) of its alum no gre-.. the <chool earned the
nickname "Escuela deGolpc,," or ··school of Coups." ln !984, Low-Intensity Conflict
when Panama finally ousted SOA (u nder a p.ovision of the Today, with a basic budget of S5.8 million, SOA trains 1,800
Panama Canal treaty), the Panamanian daily ta Pre11sa added soldiers. Currently there are no Salvadoran or Guatemalan
another nom de guerre: "The School of Assassi ns. " 1 trainees, but officers from those nations serve as guest in-
Four years after relocation to Fort Benning, Geor- structors. The S5.8 million budget does not include salaries
gia, SOA e;tablished a " Hall of Fame" to honor or living allowances (up to $25,000) paid to Latin American
officers attending the Command and General Staff College
(CGSC). Both guest instructors and cosc officers are en-
V1cki A. lmcrm;.~n is co·dircctor o[ the School of the
Americas \\'3tch SOA Watch was established in 199110 couraged 10 bring family members, who receive post privi-
countc:racl the laclr: of mformac.on avaJiable 10 the general 4
leges normally reserved for U.S. soldiers and their families.
pubiK: on the U.S Anny Scbool of the Amen<:<IS ond au
role in U.S. military pobcy in l..aun Amcnca. For more
information canooct: SOA Woteh, P.O. Box 3330, 2. Leiter to Oefen>e Secretary Les A.spm, August 6, 1993.
Oltumbo.\, GA 3!903, Tel. 706'682·5369. 3. Doug!.. Waller, "Running a 'Scbool for DictatOr>,'" Ntws~-..k, August 9,
I. Edward Oldy, "U.S. A1my Oosing School for 1993. p. 37.
L11in Orncers in Pannmn," Washing/On Posr, 4. Oint CJaybrook, "Pressure mounls for reforms a1 School of the Americas,"
September 24. I 984. Colwt~busLtrlger-lnquirer, Augo.<t 8.1993. p. Bl.

Fall 1993 CovertActiOD 15


U.S. Army School of the Americas' "Finest"
A RGENTINA DOMIN ICAN REPUBLIC
Gen. leopold! Galtlerl : President, 1981-82. Over· Gen. Tommy Rafael Fernandez Alarc6n: deputy
saw the last two years of six-year "dirty war• when secretary of state, Armed Forces; SOA·HOF, 1993.
an estimated 30,000 suspected dissidents were Gen. Jose Emilio Guzman Fernandez: Army chief
tortured, disappeared, and murdered. of staff; SOA·HOF, 1993.
Gen. Hec tor Garcia Tejada: secretary of state,
BOLIVIA Armed Forces; SOA·HOF, 1993.
Gen. Hugo Banzer Suarez: Dictator, 1971-78. De·
veloped the "B{mzer Plan• to silence outspoken ECUADOR
members of the Church; the plan became a blue- Gen. Jorge Humberto Felix Mena: SOA-HOF.
print for repression throughout Latin America. As· Gen. Jorge Enrique A sanza Acalturrl : soA-HOF.
cended to power through a violent coup; inducted
into the U.S. Army School of the Americas Hall of EL SA LVADOR
Fame (SOA-HOF} , 1988. 1 (not cited oy UN Truth Commission)

Gen. Guido Emilio Sandoval Zambrana: Com - Co l. J ose Marlo Godi nez Castillo: Cited by Sal·
manding general, Army; SOA·HOF, 1991. vadoran Non-Governmental Human Rights Com -
mission (NGHRC) for involvement in 1,051 summary
C O LOMBIA executions , 129 tortures, 8 rapes- 1,288 total vic·
Gen. luis Eduardo Roca: Chief of Staff, Colombian tims.3
Army; SOA·HOF, 1991. Col. Dionisio lsmael Mac huca: Former d irector,
Gen. Jose Nelson Mej ia: Colombian Army; SOA·HOF, National Police; former member of SOA cad re
1989. In 1991, Generals Roca and Mejia, in thanking (Panama). Cited by NGHRC for involvement in 318
the U.S. Congress for $40.3 million in anti-narcotics tortures, and 610 illegal detentions.4
aid, pledged $38.5 million to a counterinsurgency
campaign in northeast Colombia, where narcotics GUATEMALA
are neither grown nor processed. 2 Gen. Manuel Antonio Callejas y Call ejas: Under
Gen. Rafael Samudi o Moli na: Former defense min- President Romeo lucas Garcia, was senior intel·
ister; SOA-HOF, 1988. ligence officer in charge of choosing targets for as-
Gen. Manuel J . Guerrero Paz: Former defense min· sassination. later served as chief of staff,
ister; SOA·HOF, 1988. Guatemalan Armed Forces under Vinicio Cerezo,
Gen. Manuel Alberto Murillo Gonzalez: Com· whil e Gremajo was defense minlster; 5 SOA· HOF,
mander, Army; SOA·HOF, 1991 . 1988.
Gen. Hernan Jose Guzman Rod riguez: Com· Gen. Hect o r G ramajo: Retired defense minister. He
mander-in-chief, Army; SOA·HOF, 1993. held key military and government positions; archi·

The core of SOA's curriculum, Low-Intensity Conflict tors &om various SOA client nations, train surrogate Latin
(U C), is a deliberately misnamed warfare strategy5 designed American and Caribbean soldiers in ''dirty lillie war" tech·
to maintain U.S. military influence in this hemisphere with· niques, including: counterinsurgency and urban counterin·
out using (or l osi ng) large numbers of U.S. troops.6 Instead, "irurgency; irregular warfare and commando operations; sniper
U.S. military personnel , aided by a handful of guest instruc· and sapper techniques; combat arms and special operations;
and military intelligence and PSYOPS. 7 SOA graduates who
go home and adequately perform their duties can l ook for·
S. Th'O y<ars ago, in an effon 10 funher sanitize: UC"s amage. lhe Ddcmc
])epattmtft uiecho....,.,.,. it "Pc:aome E.,.gement" ClrubA Ktobn, "b's1\me ward to returning to the SOA again and again, to receive more
10 Expand U.S. Spoclal Oper.ltioM," NaliONII Defense. N01o'Omb<r 1991, p. 43. training, more free vacations to Disneyland, an assignment
6 . Paul Timm, "ll's belter 10 1alk oboul diffcn:nces lh.1n 10 figbl," Columbtas
Ledger·Enq11irer, November 11 , 1989. T1mmquotes rormcr U.S. Tr..mmg nnd as guest instructor, or induction into the SOA Hall of Fame.
Doctrine Conunand commander General Maxwell Thurman: "It (is] far beuer
to train Latin American soldiers up here at Fort Bcnmng than to tLavc American
soldicn down Ihere doing lbe nghllng in latin Amenca.'' 7. U.S. Army School of lbe Americas, 1991 Courso Ca1alog.

16 CovertAction Number 46
teet of governmenVmilitary strategies which essen- PANAMA
tially legalized military atrocities throughout the '80s. Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega: Ex-president and
He was praised in 1992 by then-SOA Commandant CIA asset, is now in a U.S. prison, SOA 1965, 1967.
Jose Feliciano as a "brilliant" individual, undeserv-
PARAGUAY
ing of criticism by human rights groups. In an ad-
Gen. Eumello Bernal: Former chief of staff, Para-
dress to the 1991 SOA Command and General Staff
guayan Armed Forces; SOA·HOF, 1990.
College graduation class, he warned them to be-
ware of "non-believers in military affairs," lest the PERU
"dragon of communism" crush democracy in Latin Gen. Enrique L6pez Albujar Trint : Former defense
Amerlca. 6 minister; SOA-HOF, 1988.
Gen. Edgar Godoy Gaitan: Ex-chief, Presidential Gen. Jorge Zegarra Delgado: Ex-commanding gen-
Military Guard. Believed to have ordered 1991 as- erar, Army; SOA·HOF, 1990.
7
sassination of anthropologist Myrna Mack. Attended Gen. Pedro Edllberto VIllanueva Valdivia: Com -
a military intelligence cou rse at SOA in Panama, manding general, Army; SOA-HOF, 1991 .
1975 and the 47-week Command and General Staff
College course at SOA, Fort Benning, 1987. URUGUAY
Gen. Jose Domingo Garcia Samayoa: Ex-defense Gen. Carlos P. Pache Gel a bert: Ex-commander, Air
minister; accused participants of the GHRC's 1992 Force; SOA·HOF, 1990.
Washington, D.C. symposium on torture of"convey-
VENEZUELA
ing dlslnformation concepts," and of being enemies
8 Gen. Ellodoro Antonio Guerrero G6mez: Ex-de-
of democracy in Guatemala.
fense minister, 1988.
Gen. Jose Angel Marchena Acosta: Former com-
HAITI
mander, Armed Forces; SOA-HOF, 1988.
Major Joseph-Michel Francois: Police chief, Haiti.
Gen. Alfredo Antonio Sandoval Hernandez: Ex-com-
Played an important role in the Haitian coup that
mander, Armed Forces; SOA·HOF, 1988.
ousted President Arislide. Francois received train-
Gen. Jose Maria Troconls Peraza: Ex-commander,
ing at Fort Benning.9 SOA has admitted training
Haitian soldiers prior to 1986, during the Duvalier
Army; SOA·HOF, 1990 °
regime. The specifics of that training and names of 1. W. Ste\-'CI') Ricks... Hall or Fame at Army School()( Americas Honors 2
trainees are unknown. Former Dltlotor!l," TheAtlamaJournof.Constiwtion, October 30, 1988.
2. Ruth ConntCt "Colombia'~ Duty War, Washington's Dirty Hands," Tire
Progrestil~. ~ta)' 1992.
3. El Sa.hadtor \f"rte~a. puhhc:atwn oCh in Cities osri'S. ftbnJolry 1993.
HONDURAS •. /but
S. Guatem..a H...,an R:gbts Cclmmt.ssion. Waobmgton, D.C. I
Gen. Humberto Regalado Hernandez: Ex-com- 6. Oaruci~I.Jloncy. "SOAreoogniza 1991 stalf~gradullco."1lor8G)"""
(SOA '!P.;'~ Jonuary 3, 1992; ll<nn15 Bermtcin and urry Em<M. "Hector 11
mander, Armed Forces. Strong links to Colombian H~ard. Z Magcuine, JuJy/August l99l.
7. GHRC, mailing, Marcll1993.
drug traffickin g; SOA-HOF, 1988. 8. Dorothy VKfulil;h, "Human·ri6)1LS odjyisJs say criticisms by Guatemalan
Gen. Policarplo Paz Garcia: Dictator, 1980-82. offici>!> lypitol, unfounded," Nattt){l(t/ CaJitolic ReP""!"• Oe<lcri1bes 4. 1992.
9. Anne Marie O'O>nnor. ''A llnlc.known 50ld1er becomes H.111ti's police
Ru led during 100-150 d•sappearances; SOA-HOF chlt'f: M•ior rc«.ivcd mlhtarr 1r11nmg m fort Benning. G•-... Atlarua
Journai-CDtutitutiOit, Octobtt 1,1991.
1988.to I 0. Rlcb, op. cit

In this way, SOA functions not only as a training and The implications extend beyond the personal. Like any
indoclrination center, bul al so as a reward to select soldiers elite school, SOA builds an old boys network. When it comes
for a job well done. The perk street runs bolh ways according lime for lhe U.S. to choose one or an01her faction in an
10 Joseph Blair, a U.S. Army officer who !aught logis1ics a1 internal power dispute abroad, it bas highly placed allies
SOA from 1986 to 1989. "American faculty members readily whose politics it helped shape and whose loyalty it claims.
accepted all forms of military dictatorship in Latin America
and frequemly conversed about future personal opportunities The Smiling Face of Oppression
to visi11heir new 'friend~' when they ascended to military or SOA not only teaches the craft of propaganda, it practices it.
dictatorial power some day.''8 SOA's rigorously promoted programs such as "Nation-
Building" and "Internal Defense and Development" paint a
benign facade on training here at home and U.S. military
8. 1os•1?h Blair, "SOA lsn 'o Teaching DeJOOCmcy," ColumhuN ~edger-Enquirer
(Georg1a), July 20, 1993, p. A6. activities abroad. The short-term, public agenda of lhese

Fall 1993 CovertAction 17


SOA Alumni Named in UN Truth Commission Report on El Salvador

On March 15, 1993, the United Nations Truth Commission Report on El Salvador was released, citing
dozens of Salvadoran officers for involvement in atrocities committed during a decade of war. SOA Watch
compared Truth Commission findings with lists of SOA graduates obtained from the National Security
Archive in Washington, D.C., and discovered SOA graduates cited in the pages of the U.N. Report.
Often those soldiers who had received the most U.S. training were Involved In the worst atrocities.
Training provided them both before and after their involvement In war crimes included counterinsurgency
and urban counterinsurgency courses; Irregular warfare and commando operations courses; combat
arms and special operations courses; and military Intelligence and psychological operations courses.

3 Officers cited Romero Assassin ation: March 24, 1980: Archbishop Oscar Romero. The
2 SOA graduates beloved champion of the poor was assassinated while celebrating mass in
San Salvador.

5 Officers cited Murder of Churchwomen : December 2, 1980: Three U.S. nuns and a Catholic
3 SOA graduates layworker were forced out of their van just outside San Salvador by members
of the Salvadoran National Guard, who raped and killed them.

3 Officers cited Sheraton Hotel Murders: January 3, 1981: Three labor leaders were assas-
3 SOA graduates sinated at the Hotel in San Salvador by Salvadoran National Guardsmen.

3 Officers cited El Junquillo Massacre: March 12, 1981: Salvadoran soldiers massacred the
2 SOA graduates citizens of the village and raped the women and children under 12.

12 Officers cited El Mozote Massacre: December of 1981: Hundreds of unarmed civilians were
10 SOA graduates massacred, their corpses mutilated, burned, or left to rot on the ground.

6 Officers cited Las Hojas Massacre: February 22, 1983: Soldiers of the Jaguar Batallion
3 SOA graduates murdered sixteen civilians and burned their corpses.

7 Officers cited San Sebastian Massacre: September 21 , 1988: Members of the Jiboa Battalion
6 SOA graduates captured ten civilians, interrogated and then killed them.

27 Officers cited Jesuit Massacre: November 16, 1989: Six unarmed Jesuit priests, their house-
19 SOA graduates keeper, and her teen-age daughter were massacred at the priests' residence
In San Salvador.

"internal defense and development" projects includes bridge- social, military, or political reforms are as dangerous to the
building and medical aid tasks. Their long-term effect -like state as armed guerri llas.
that of LIC as a whole - is to expand the bounds of military Even more simplistic is the o nly human rights component
authority, to entrench the military in traditionally civilian of the school's Sniper course: If, during their final exams,
areas, and to incorporate military propaganda and intelli- trainees fire on civilian targets, they fail the course. 9 tn fact,
gence networks throughout civilian society. when Honduran and Colombian soldiers ran through "urban-
While trainees absorb highly sophisticated propaganda and combat exercises using blanks in their weapons half the time,
psychological operations techniques, they are initiated into the village priestJplayed by a U.S. Army chaplain] is killed
the U.S. political line. In a course on "The Church in Latin or roughed up. " 1
America" (not listed in SOA course catalogs), trainees learn
that Uberation Theology is a subversive doctrine promoted 9. Daniel Moloney, "Media Day: Local repone,; brie[ed on SOA's ruturc," TM
by the allies or dupes of subversives. This simplistic ap- BayOMt, May 29, 1992. p. Sl.
lO.Dougtas Waller, "Runrung a 'School [or Dictaton,' s...~..uk, Augusl9,
proach reinforces the convenient belief that advocates of 1993, p. 37.

18 CovertAction Numbtr46
Human Rights
Former SOAcommandant,
Jose Feliciano, who over-
saw the training of hun-
dreds of Salvadoran sol-
dters during his tenure,
staunchly maintained that
the human rights records of
SOA client nations were
beyond reproach. "A na-
tion that wants to receive
[SOA training)," he said,
"has got to have a strong
human rights record. We
talk to people in terms of
values."
Major Jalme F. Llinet,
apparently without irony,
described some of those
values. PSYOPS campaigns,
he said, were "a way of ad-
vanci ng human rights .
... We teach (SOA) students
another way of fighting a
war agains t anarchy.
PSYOPS is a more civtlized
"a' of doing things. plus it .......
helps avoid unnecessary
Members of the 1989 Salvadoran army from left, first row (seated): Col. lnocente Orlando
vtolence." Major Llinel al-
Montano; Gen. Ren• Emilio Ponce; second row (seated): Leopolda Herrera Amaya; Manuel
so boasted. "One reason so Antonio Rivas Mejia; Col. Guillermo Benavides; third row (s111nding): Ll Col. Leon Unares;
many Iraqis are alive today Col. Arnoldo Majano; Col. Julio Cesar Grijalva; Col. Carlos Armando Aviles. Benavides and
is because PSYOPS con- Montano (1970 SOA graduate) were central to the planning and attempted cover up of the
vinced them to sur- Jesuit masucre. Rivas (1970, ' 75 SOA graduate) was also an lntergral part ofthe cover up.
render."11
The curr~nt SOA com-
lllandant, Colonel Jose Alvarez, maintains the same line. them in El Salvador. He said he doesn't know if the accused
14
SOA) probably doe' more in the area of teaching human hadbeenstudents. "
r .ghts than any other "hoof in the world," he insists. 12 The
Colonel must have hecn on leave every time the1 989m urder Shut the Doors
of six Je,utt priests. their hou,ekeeper. and her 16-year-old Thus the U.S. Army School oft he Americas- by honing the
daughter, in EI Salvador wa:. mentioned The Truth Commis· military skills and rewarding the atrocities of this hemi-
sio n implicated 27 soldiers and the Salvadoran courts con- sphere's most brutal armed forces- undermines the human
victed four in that massacre; 19 of the soldiers were SOA rights it purporl~ to instill. AI best, the tow intensity conflict it
13
graduates. Yet even after Ihe U.N. report made headlines, teaches maintains the sraws quo in nations with large, im-
Alvarez maintained unabashed ignorance of what is un- poverished populations plagued by unfai r labor practices,
doubtedly the most publicized case in recent memo ry of poor living conditions, and tuck of education; at worst, it is
human rights abuse involving SOA graduates. "Alvarez a tool for achi eving and legitimizing fascism.
<atd that as far as he knows, no School of the Americas As the U.N. Truth Commission Report on EI Salvador
graduate has ever been formally charged in connection 10 clearly demonstrates, SOA training docs not alter the patterns
the killing of the priests and the women who died with of traditionally abusive militaries - it only makes the alum-
ni more mindful of hiding their atrocities. Shutting the doors
on the U.S. Army School of the Americas would save millions
J I. Oamel Moloney, "PSYOPS course exercise test~ pra~1ical knowledge," The of dollars - and perhaps thousand~ of lives. •
8G}'OM4 May 7, 1993, p. Sl.
12.1ntervtcw, WRBL-1V (Colwnbus, Gcorgta CBS afirh•c), June 14,1993
13. Append ax 0, fnterim Rrpon of 1M SfHalc"'' TGJk Fora MEl S4hador 14- Ornr O.ybrook, "CommandaniCkfcnds School (I(America.: O.U. protestoiS'
(the Moakley Rcpon), April30. 1990. charges 'ridiculous,'" Columbus Lttlger·E111J'•;,.,., June 15, t993, p. IH.

Fa111993 CovertAction 19
By 1987 "our guys simply slopped
reporting... up through the chain [be-
cause] they were reporting things they
felt were absolute violations, and were
absolutely wrong, and they were not
seeing any action taken .... It was up to
the State Department to arrest those
people or to investigate those at fault ..
... You couldn 'I go up to people and say
'40 persons got themselves whacked over
here because they were thinking of form-
ing a workers' 1mion. And the landowner
is not into that at all, so he asked his
buddy the Colonel to send a squad over
and take care of the problem.' (If] you did
that, it was real easy to find yourself on
the receiving end of a grenade, or a bomb,
or a rifle bullet. So...011r guys... reporled
the information and then just saw it
disappear into that great void. N

An ex-adviser in El Salvador says senior U.S. officials


covered up the combat role of U.S. advisers and hid a
pattern of human rights violations by the Salvadoran army.

Green Berets in El Salvador


Frank Smyth
reg Walker was a U.S. military adviser in El Salvador, pattern of human rights abuses that marked the U.S.-spon-

G and he is not bappy with the people who assigned him


there. Walker is the director of Veterans of Special
Operations, which, he says, represents an estimated 4,500 U.S.
sored war. What bothers Walker, however, is that although
this spring's U.N. Truth Commission Report on El Salvador
laid the blame for the majority of these human rights crimes
advisers, pilots, medics, and other personnel who served in El on U.S.-backed Salvadoran Armed Forces, U.S. personnel
Salvador during the 12-year war. But, according to Walker, are being tarred with the same brush. Walker served as a
since the Pentagon denies thai U.S. military personnel in El Green Beret Army Special Forces adviser in El Salvador from
Salvador served in a combat situation, it refuses to give them 1982 to 1985 when the Salvadoran milirary, after substantial
proper compensation or recognition. That refusal means lower U.S. training, committed some of its the worst violations.
pay, no combat military decorations such as the Purple Heart, Walker maintains rhat ahhougb he and other U.S. advisers
and less chance of promotion. Walker, a Green Beret wbo secretly took part in combat, they regularly reported extra-
volunteered for El Salvador, says that 's not fair. judicial killings and other crimes to the U.S. Embassy and
Fairness is a different kind of question for those Sal· their military superiors. Those senior officials there und in
vadorans who survived the 75,000 killings and t he consistent Washington routinely covered them up.
President Clinton has ordered the CIA, Pemagon, and
Frdnk Smyth hM covered El Salvador since 1987. He is currently writing a book Stale Department to pursue an "expedited review" of all
on U.S. policy and intelligence In 1be war for We:uview Press. Thill telephone documents relevant to 32 specific violations in El Salvador
aotorview lOOk plac<! on Augwa 10, 1993. Ph040: Terry Allen. Aller family
members were k111ed by the Salvadoran onny, women share gnef. in response to the U.N . report .

20 CovertAction Number46
Frank Smyth: What was your mandate while you were in they knew what the reality of the war was for both them-
El Salvador? What exactly were you doing? selves and for us out there. At that time I was working out
Greg Walker: Well, the mandate of the entire military as- of Sonsonate, and we were pulled out because of the Las
sistance program, if there was a single mandate, was to Hojas massacre, and moved over to the Caballo Rio where
reorganize, restructure, and reform the Salvadoran army. the cavalry was down the street from Atlacatl [Battalion].
Certainly in 1983, when [Lt. Cmdr. AI] Schaufelberger was
FS: Were there a11y restrictions placed upon you and killed, we were at that time given permission through the
other personnel about what it was you were and were not MtLGROUP commander by the State Department, the Em-
allowed to do in terms ofparticipating in combat or going bassy, whoever you want to call it, to be fully armed.
into the field? r:~-::;~~T=J.'~i};-;;;;J,;;~~~~Jf~~;J~~illl
GW: Well, the restrictions and the limitations es-
sentially were placed upon us by the United States
military through the Congress. For example, where
did the 55 advisers limit come from? That limita-
tion did not come from Congress. That limitation
came from the military itself when they sent a
colonel to the country in the very early '80s to reas-
sess what was going to be necessary to upgrade the
military and to keep America's involvement at a
mJmmum.

FS: You mean Fred Woerner?


GW: Fred Woerner, Joe Stringham, any number of
officers went down there .... Beginning in 1983,
there were always no more than 55 U.S. military
special operations advisers, as per the mandate in-
country. But, at the same time, especially with the
Army Special Forces advisers, we are trained in a
multitude of different military skills such as com- •.
municators, medics, etc. So you saw a lot more Terry Allen
highly trained, highly skilled special operations ad-
November 1989. During the offensive, the Salvadoran army killed a
visers in El Salvador because they were slotted suspected guerrilla , burned the body in a San Salvador neighborhood,
into those standard MILO ROUP staff slots ....So, and ordered that no one bury it.
probably at any one time, we had as many as 300
conventional and soft advisers working in-country
at any one time, carrying out mobile training Now [New York Times correspondent] Lydia Chllvez,
teams. Quite a bit more than when you were given the big are you familiar with her? Lydia was probably one of the
55 number. But you just have to understand the mechanics; most gutsball reporters that I ever met down there, and the
it was no secret, it was just that people simply did not ex- morning after Schaufelberger was killed, Lydia ran into
plore and know the nght questions to ask. myself and the Special Forces captain over at Est ado
Mayor [military headquarters]. We had two visiting
FS: What about military limitations? military dignitaries with us, we were armed with an M-16
GW: The limitations that were placed upon the military ad· shotgun and submachine guns, and Lydia to her great
visers in the very early stages were that they could not credit, asked the question as she was staring at us in our
carry long guns or assault rilles or things like that, and vehicles. "What happened last night7 Are you guys armed
were restricted to essentially carrying only a sidearm, any differently?"
which at the time was either a .45 or a 9mm pistol. It was Well , we had managed to stuff everything that was short
t~ pica! of the State Department policy process that if we and ugly under the seat because we saw Lydia coming.
didn't look like we were in a war, then the other side Lydia had a good reputation for ferreting things out like
would take it that we weren't really there to be in a war. that, but one individual who should have known better, but
.. .In 1982, when I first went in the country, we were didn't, left his M-16 fully exposed on the back seat with a
provided with long guns, or assault rifles, by Salvadoran magazine in it. And being good Special Forces troopers,
commanders who refused to be responsible for our safety we immediately lied to the media and said, " No, although
out in the "training areas" or in the field, or going between they just killed the director of security for the entire embas-
thecuartel [military base] to the capital, [or] any kind of sy, there's no difference at all in our armed attitude." And
transportation or movement whatsoever. Simply because Lydia, with her photographer there, clearly saw that rifle

Fall 1993 CovertAction 21


FS: Where did people come under fue in El Salvador, in·
side of cuane/s or in the field?
GW: U.S. advisers down there came under fire most in the
cuartels. As a matter of fact, some of the major battles that
U.S. advisers were involved with took place in cuartels,
but we came under fire in the field as well, and quite ob-
viously came under £ire in the urban areas, as Schaufelber-
ger's experience dictates. The thing that is forgotten here,
thanks in part to the lack of coverage by the American
media, is that El Salvador was a country that was taking
part in a guerrilla war, and anybody who Mudies anything
about guerrilla warfare knows that there are no safe
havens. So we were subject to fire at any time, any place.
For example, where do you train people to do fire and
maneuver things'! Where do you train people how to
patrol? Where do you train people how to use anti-tank
we.1pons, anti-bunker weapons and things like that? In a
place like El Salvador, you have to train them outside of
the cuartel area, which means you have to go to the field,
and you have to specifically find areas if at all possible
where there are no or minimal inhabitants, which is dif-
ficult because it's so intensely populated. Well, in other
words, you're out exactly where the guerr illas are and they
have a tendency to really kind of get a little P.O.'d when
their property is mvaded by folks like u~.

FS: Were all these contacts wiJit tlte enemy outside cuar-
• Courto.y- o' '"CLA tels reported to MtLGROUI' commanders in San Salvador?
Troops trained by the U.S. were responsible for some of the GW· Jn every incident, to my knowledge, there was a very
worst massacres and human rights violations of the war. strict reporting system and it went up the chain of com·
mand up to the U.S. MILGROUP.
and simply told us, "You guys take care of yourselves" and
did not take pictures, which she could have, and did not FS: When I was in El Salvador, tlte American Embassy
report that. But we were fully armed immediately after only admitted, as laJe as right before tlte offensive in
Schaufelberger was killed. 1989, that only on three occasions had U.S. military ad-
As far as contact, in 1984, during the elections, we were visers come under f~re.
under continuous fire from the FMLN because we were GW: There is a big difference in what the U.S. military ad-
manning reporting sites all over the country in all the nice visers, who were conventional Army, Air Force, Marine, as
places like El Para!so and Usulutan. I was in Usulutan well as special operations forces representing all the ser-
then, and we took fire in the cuartel every other nighl. In vices, were required and tramed to do, what they actually
'84, you have to understand that the military base at Pal- did, and what the State Department or the Embru>sy did
merola in Honduras served as an aviation launch platform with that information afterwards. So if that was your exper-
for U.S. Air Force aircraft to include AC-130 gunships which ience, all l can tell you is they did a very good JOb, because
flew rescue missions for us specifically, so that if we got three times under fire -that's pretty good.... That's clear-
hit in the cuartels or had to get out of the cuartcls and go ly not only a misrepresentation of the facts. but it's a lie.
into an escape and evasion mode and had to get picked up
either by rotary aircraft or be covered by the AC-130s FS: When these individual members ofthe military ItS·
tijied before Congress and gave reports underestimating
FS: Did the officers or mililary personnel im·olved get the level of engagement with the enemy, were lltey acting
combat crediJ for these actions, but it was not made on their own volition, or on orders from superiors?
public? Is thaJ correct? GW: ... Was there an orche~trated, very carefully structured
GW: No, they don't get credit tf it's not acknowledged that program of downplaying, misleading, misrepresenting, not
it's combat. At the same time, we had advisers in El Sal· giving the nght answer iftbe precise question i~n't asked?
vador who were being paid hostile fire pay as early as 1981. Quite obviously, the answer is, yes, there was.

22 CovertAction Number46
FS: From yor1r perspective, why wouldn't yor; want
to let this rest? What is it that yottfeel the American
military personnel in El Salvador are being cheated
out of becattse of this policy?
GW: Well, we're not telling it rest because it's not the
right thing to do ... .ln today's political and military
politics, it would appear to be a very simplistic
answer, but in a nutshell, approximately 4,500 to 5,000
American military personnel served in El Salvador
over a 12-year period. To my knowledge, and certainly
we've heard from a great many folks, and from what
we' vc been able to see, we know that we were serving
in a war. We had friends who were both wounded and
killed in that war. We bad a vital com mitment that was
handed to us to go down there and do the best job pos-
sible under extremely difficult diplomatic and wartime
constrictions and restraints, and we did the job. To
turn around and see that effort sullied by a formal at-
titude that there was no war... dishonors everything we
thought we were representing and involved in. And
certainly, a [current) example of that is the U.N.
human rights report, which essentially is not being
clarified by the proper authorities in the government
and is making the military personnel that were in-
volved down there look somewhat like ,.----..=--,;;;'!'
we were involved in things and training
and teaching things that were not at all TenyAllen

honorable. and that is not the case. What Angry workers meet In the hastily repaired
are wt being cheated nut of? Our JUSt FENASTRAS union hall In October 1989. The
and due acknowledgment for a job well bomb, which human rights groups charged
was planted by the Salvadora n army, killed 13
done. people Including leader Phoebe Elizabeth
Velasquez, pictured above.
FS: In terms of levels of engagement,
are we talking dotens or hundreds? GW: Wath respect to human rights, this
GW: ... [O]ver a 12-year period of time, needs to be made real clear, and this is one
[that] number is in the high hundreds to of the things that really is a sticking point
the low thousands. And I consider that a for most of us who served down there, both
round fired where there was American Special Forces and conventional.
militar)' personnel in the area is coming under fire. [For ex- We were mandat ed ... to identify, to gather information,
ample) in San Salvador when they were blowing the to root out those that possibly were involved in human
telephone and the power poles .. )OU were under fire. So I rights violations, ... who were actually taking part in death
would say, in that tn~tance, Ameucan militar)' personnel squad activities, in massacres, in any of the things that
came under fire on an everyday occuHence. were mentioned in that report.
American advisers made every attempt to do this, often
FS: Have you any estimates, or perhaps the figures, on at risk to themselves, and in fact, we were, by 1984 and
how many U.S. military personnel were killed in El '85, finding ourselves targeted by the extreme right for this
Sal•·ador? kind of acttvity, as well as by the guerrillas who were tick-
GW: Fifteen were killed. ed off about our military involvement. Now, it was real easy
to accept the guerrillas trying to take us out, but it was a lit-
FS: lou made a point earlier about human rights and tle difficult to accept that the folk we were supposed to be
some of the re•·elations that came ottt in the U.N. Truth supporting in some cases were out for our scalps as well.
Commission Report and you mentioned that this repon
somehow suggests that American military personnel were FS: And you were encouraging the S alvadorans not to
involved in things that cast them in a bad, dislronorable commit violations according to the U.S. military policy on
light. Could yott explain what you meant by that? human rights?

Fall l993 CovertAction 23


War in Periods of Peace
D uring the Iran-Contra hearings, House chief
counsel John Nields asked Lt. Col. Oliver North
about a line in his notes referring to a ·delicate stage of
Special Forces are made available, by law, to th e
Agency, which is why Special Forces has always
been the advisory arm of the Central Intelligence
transition from 'blank' run operation to 'blank'-run." Agency. That is no big secret. The only time that
that changes is a period when war is no longer con-
Nlelds: Well you put In some blanks, you said sidered to be a peace time.
"blank" in two places, there's nothing classified I know this seems contradictory, war being un-
about either of those words and one of them is CIA. dertaken during periods of peace, but that 's when
North: Well. the transition goes from the Agency's direct control
Nlelds: And the other is Southern Command. to the American military's direct control and when
that happens, Special Forces, If they have been
The operation referred to was El Salvador. In his working with or under the auspices of the Agency,
interview, Walker shed some light on what North they flip-flop back under the control of the military
meant about a "delicate stage of transition" from a and that I think is what you're seeing in that tes-
CIA- to Southern Command -run operation. timony.
The early stages of the war were very much
G reg Walker: The mandate for the Central intel- Agency-directed and -oriented, and as the war and
ligence Agency upon its creation in, I believe, 1947 our commitment expanded, as our assets in
is that the Agency has responsibility for military Panama through the U.S. Southern Command and
operations during periods of declared peace. in in Honduras became more and more and more In-
other words, they are responsible and indeed can volved, control was taken out of the ha nds of the
direct, run, operate in these kinds of conflicts total- Agency and turned back over to the formal military
ly legally. During those times of declared peace, through the United States Southern Command. •

GW: Well, you can't lump the entire Salvadoran mililary Now, what seems to be the bone of contention here is
into the same pol.... We were to identify those Salvadoran not that American military personnel weren't doing a hell
military officers who were, in fact, very concerned with of a job as far as gathering information, intelligence, and
changing that policy, and were not taking part in il, but turning it over to the people responsible for evaluating it
were part of a system that had been involved in that kind and taking further action, but how much of that was shared
of thing for years. And that's endemic to that entire region. when questions were asked by Congress or by human
That's historical fact, like it or not rights groups or by reporters. That is the big stumbling
So we'd identify the senior officers within the military block as far as El Mozote was concerned. When that was
st ructure that you would want to preen, and to cultivate, brought to the forefront by the media, the State Depart-
and to bring to the forefront so you could replace the ones ment turned around and just about said it absolutely didn't
that were tainted, and at the same time, we were charged happen, [it) couldn't find any evidence, you're just trying
with training those young officers coming out of the of- to muck up this whole thing for us down here. As we find
ficers school, the lieutenants, and the new and emerging out now, it most certainly did happen.
Salvadoran non-commissioned corps, in the entire human
rights process....[R)eporting did take place, and when my FS: Were there any instances, for example £1 Mozoti or
particular team was pulled out of Sonsonate, and pulled Los Hojas, or othu cases ofparticular •iolations, where
back in 1983 after Las Hojas was discovered, and those 70 you were aware of information, or you personally or
peasants were discovered on my particular rille range, we MILGROUP was aware of massacres that were then not
were held in check for ten days as a bargaining chip by the
State Department to try to force the military structwe to
cough up the personnel or the people responsible.' 2. The 1981 El Mom«: masucn:. 10 wluch the Salvadoran anny ktlled hundteds
o[unanned villagers, was reported by Ray Bonner(N•w York Ttn!l!>) and Anna
Guillermoprltlo (Wa.shinRton PMt). Emba.\.'Y and State Depanmcnt officials
1. The mostly indigenous peasants were cxcculcd at the Las Hojas fanning denied the incidenl and after considerable pressure, Bonner wa.11ransferred off
cooperative in february 1983. An arrest warrant was inued rorCol. Ar.lujo In the Central America beat and eventually left the r;mes. Eleven years laler, the
1987, but never earned oul. Col. Anoujo wu subsequently cleared ofall charges U.N. Tntth Conunission report oonoboratedthe accounts of the massacre and
to a blantd 811Ul($ty issued by Pn:s. J.U Nopoi.On !>uMietn O<lober 1987. tbe guilt ofthe Solvadollln army.

24 CovertAction Number46
made public? Or huma.n rights violations or practices by bassador, ... (and] directly from the military, right into the
membtrs of the army which led to human rights viola- hands of those charged with conducting our foreign policy
tions which then were covered up in terms of specifics? in that country.
GW: We were aware of any number of things, not only on
the Salvadoran Armed Forces side of the house, but on the FS: Then it presumably would have gone on to Washington ?
FMLN's side of the house. We photographed Salvadoran GW: And from there it would have gone directly on to
soldiers who were shot down at San Sebastian, San Washington . And that's a good point, too. Washington
Vicente, Puente de Oro, the other side of San Miguel. Both wanted to know what was going on in El Salvador, and did
sides committed some pretty heinous acts all in the name indeed know on an almost real time basis. In 1984, when-
of the common good, I guess. The only way to answer that, had I had a tape recorder, I would have loved to have taped
I guess, is to say that we did a hell of a lot of reporting, this one- the American advisory element in El Paraiso
and by 1987, from what I've been able to ascertain from came under fire. An A C-130 gunship was scrambled fiom
letters I've been sent by people down there, after a while, Honduras, and nown over El Paraiso to help pinpoint those
our guys simply stopped reporting. And the reason that guerrilla actions. This was all being monitored by the
they stopped reporting it up through the chain is that they MJLGROUP and the Embassy. Southern Command was
were reporting things that they felt were absolute viola- called immediately and came on the line as well, and then
tions, and were absolutely wrong, and they were not seeing a line went up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And it was real
any action taken. interesting listening to all of these parties all over asking,
It was up to the State Department to arrest those people "How are these five Americans, where are they, and what's
or to investigate those at fault. Now, the diplomats will say going to happen to them?" The interest level in
"You have to understand it's a long and involved process."
But for somebody who's down there in the field and par-
ticipating in the uncovering of these things, you see one
body, or a group of bodies, and it's pretty difficult not to [l]t was real easy to accept the
say, uwhy can't you stop that now, with the information guerrillas trying to take us out, but...
that we've provided for you?" And in fact. when you're
being targeted by the right, when you have to watch your a little difficult to accept that the folks
front as well as your back, and you're bemg told "Don't we were supposed to be supporting
worry, it's been taken care of, just don't bring it up again,''
that takes a lot of the impetus out of the reporting. That's ... were out for our scalps as well.
unfortunately human nature.

FS: The reporting was being stopped because nothing


was being do11e. But did earlier reporting include Washing ton was really hi gh. They knew at any time exact-
specifics- names, and dates, and fa cts? ly what it was that was going on, where we were, and what
GW: Absolutely. As best as we could ascertain them. You we were doing, throughout the entire war.
couldn't go up to people and say 40 persons got them-
~elves whacked over here because they were thinking of FS: And then at a certain point, people decided it wasn't
forming a workers' union, and the landowner is not into worth trying to get this information, nothmg was being
that at all. so he asked his buddy the Colonel to send a done, and it was in fact dangerous to get it?
squad over and take care of the problem. Because if and GW: It was very dangerous to get it, and it was just like
when you did that, it was real easy to find yourself on the you were feeding reports into this big report file, and if
receiving end of a grenade, or a bomb, or a une bullet. something was being done, it was taking an enormous
And so it was something that had to be done very careful- amount of time. or it wasn't really happening at all, be-
ly, very slowly, and our guys put themselves at tremendous cause (the] bigger picture was intruding upon the im-
risk to accomplish that, and then reported the information mediacy of what you were seeing or hearing.
and then just saw it disappear into that great void.
FS: So your poi11t in terms of honor of the role of U.S.
FS: Specifically, to whom was this information reported? military people on the ground is that it is not that the
GW: Any kind of combat field info all went up your imme- revelations of the U.N. Tmth Commission aren't true.
diate chain of command. If I was, say, at Usulutan and got What you're saying is it wasn't the fault of the people 011
something like that, I would report it up one step above the ground that nothing was done; it was the faulJ of
myself- in most cases to U.S. MtLGROUP. From there it people higher up who didn't do anything with the infor-
would be channeled through the deputy commander, mation. I s that correct?
MtLGROUP commander, and from there, directly to the Am- GW: That's correct. •

Fall1993 CovertAction 25
Private Prisons: Profits of Crime

Phil Smith

Private prisons are a symptom, a response by private capital to the "opportunities"


created by society's temper tantrum approach to the problem of criminality.

t Leavenworth, Kansas, within a perimeter of razor tain behaviors-the deprivation of physical liberty and even

A wire, armed prison guards in uniform supervise


hundreds of medium· and maximum-security federal
prisoners. Welcome to one of America's growth industries-
of life itself-are not amenable to private sector usurpation.
Some of the arguments that inform this assumption are ethi-
cal, some legal, and others practical, but all are being chal-
private sector, for-profit prisons. Here in the shadow of the lenged by a growing group of special interests.
federally-run Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks and the
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, the Corrections Corporation Prisons for Profit
of America (CCA) runs a short-term detention facility for Surprisingly, private prisons are nothing new in U.S . history.
medium- and maximum-security prisoners. Under contract to In the mid-1800s, penny-pinching state legislatures awarded
the U.S. Marshal's Service and the Immigration and Natural- contracts to private entrepreneurs to operate and manage
ization Service (INS), the CCA Leavenworth facility is not an Louisiana's first state prison, New York's Auburn and Sing
anomaly but part of a trend. In the last decade, from juvenile Sing penitentiaries, and others. These institutions became
detention centers to county jails and work farms to state prison models for entire sections of the nation where privatized
units to INS holding camps for undocumented aliens, private prisons were the norm later in the century. These prisons were
interests have entered the incarceration business in a big way. supposed to turn a profit for the stale, o r at least pay for
Where there are people detained, there are profits to be made. themselves. Typically, privatization was limited: The state
Imprisonment is an ugly business under any regime, but leased or contracted convict labor to private companies. In
the prospect of a privatized prison system raises difficult and some cases, such as Texas, however, the corrections function
disturbing questions beyond those associated with a solely was turned over wholesale to private interests which prom-
state-operated prison system. It has been, after all, a common ised to control delinquents at no cost to the state.
assumption that the criminalization and punishment of cer- As the system spread, labor and businesses complained
that using unpaid convict labor constituted "'unfair" competi-
Phil Smilh. who holds an M.A. from the Institute of Latin American Studies at
tion. Of equal concern to reformers-but of less weight to
tbe University ofTexu. has wnnen on Lafin America anddnJg policy. politicians- was the issue of prisoner abuse under the private

26 CovertAction Number46
corrections regime. Anecdotal evidence from across the While incarceration statistics have skyrocketed, crime
country painted a grim picture: While state officials remained rates have increased much more slowly. In fact, from 1975to
indifferent or were bought off by private interests, prisoners 1985, the serious crime rate actually decreased by 1.42 per-
suffered malnourishment, frequent whippings, overwork and cent while the number of state and federal prisoners nearly
overcrowding. A series of investigations of state prisons doubled.4 The number of people sent to prison is actually
1
confirmed the tales of horror and produced public outrage. determined by policy decisions and political expediency.
As with anti-trust legislation and the progressive reforms Politicians of all stripes have sought cheap political points by
which followed, public pressure impelled government regu· being "tough on crime." They throw oil on the fire of public
lation of private sector abuse. By the turn of the century, panic by portraying the urban underclass ( read: young, black
concerted opposition from labor, business, and reformers males) as predator. Ignoring the broad context of economic
forced the state to take direct responsibility for prisons, thus policies that have effectively abandoned large segments of
bringing the first era of private prisons to an end. the populatio n, they have instituted mandatory minimum
sentences, tighter or no parole schedules, and tougher "good
Three Trends Converge time" regulations. Adding to the overpopulation these pula·
But as the twentieth century stumbles to an end, the hard tive measures wrought, the War on Drugs- which aimed its
lessons of a hundred years ago have been drowned out by the frenzy at the inner city - stuffed the nation's already over-
clamor of free market ideologues. Again, privatizalion is en- crowded prisons with a large crop of mostly African-Amer·
croachi ng ever funher on what had been state responsibili· ican and Latino nonviolent offenders.
ties, and prison systems ore the targe~ of private interests. In state after state, budgets have been stretched to the
The shift to privatization coalesced in the mid-1980s when breaking point by the cost of maintaining and expanding this
three trends converged : The ideological imperatives of the massive correctional archipelago. In California, the nat ion's
free market; the huge increase in the number of prisoners; largest state prison system, the corrections budget increased
and the concomitant increuse in imprisonment costs. seven-fold during the 1980s to $2.1 billion annually at the
In the giddy atmosphere of the Reagan years, the argument
for the superiority of free enterprise resonated profoundly.
Only the fire depanments seemed safe, as everything from
municipal garbage services to Third World State enterprises H ucksters,Jast-talking developers,
v. ent on sale. Proponents of privatized prisons put forward a and snake-oil salesmen sell f or-profit
simple case: The private sector can do it cheaper and more
efficientl y. This assortm ent of entrepreneurs, free market
prisons - disguised as economic
ideologues, cash-strapped public officials, and academics development- to depressed rural
promised design and management innovations without re- communities desperate to bolster
ducing costs or sacrificing "quality of service." In any case,
they noted correctly, public sector corrections systems are in
budgets and local economies.
a state of chronic failure by any measure, and no other
politically or economically feasible solution is on the table.
end of the decade-and the system was still operating at 180
More Prisoners, More Money percent of capacity. 5 The huge costs associated with the
This contemporary push to privatize corrections takes place choice to deal with social problems by mass imprisonment
against a socioeconomic background of severe and seeming· are a fundamental part of the drift toward private prisons.
Jy intractable crisis. Under the impetus of Reaganite social The converging trends (rampant frce-marketism, higher
Darwinism, with its "toughness" on criminal offenders, pris· prison populati on, and escalating costs) are part of a larger
on populations soared through the 1980s and into the 1990s, trend-the sharpening of Reaganite class war and the social
making the U.S. the unquestioned world leader in jailing its meanness that accompanied it. The last time the U.S. faced
own populace. By 1990,421 Americans out of every 100,000 such an influx of prisoners was after the Civil War when freed
were behind bars, easily outdistancing our closest competi· blacks, who were previously punished and controlled within
tors, South Africa and the then USSR. By 1992,the U.S. rate the slave system, were sent to formerly all-white prisons.
had climbed to 455. 2 In human terms, the number of people The present situation is not perfectly analogous, but once
an jails and prisons on any given day tops 1.2 milli on, up from
fewer than 400,000 at the start of the Reagan era.3 4. K.M. Jamieson nnd T.J. Flanagan. eds., The Sourcebook ofCriminal Justice
Statisric:s (Wa.,hington, DC: Nationallnstitute of Jus1icc, 1989), p. 612. Legal
I. Alexa M. Durham. Jll, ·•The Future of Correctional Privatization: Lesso n~ definitions of crime reOect the biases of allose who make the laws. Corporate
Fromlbc Past.'' in Gary W. Bowman. tt ol., P,;wtizingCorreclionallft.Stltutions executives ean. with 1mpunity from criminal action, imtall an exploding gas
(New Bnuuwiclt, NJ.: Traruaaoon Poblube!i,l993). pp. 33-49. tank lD a car. wJth full kftowlc:dge that it will cause a stad,tically pred.iClable
2. Slanlcy O..row. "S<udy Shov.s US Wood's No.I Jailer," Au<tmA....,.ian· number or 4caths. An md.avldual who stands on a tower aoc1 opens fiK on a
Slotnm•n, February II, 1992, p. AS. crowd - an ICl no mon: hkdy to end in murder- tS up for lhc: dealh penally.
3. Boruo of Justice Slatisti<:s. U.S. Depanmcnl of Jus11ce, Pri""''" m 1992, S. Todd Mason. "Many For-Pro61 Jails Hold No Proliu - N01 Even Ally
May 1992, p. 2. lnmat..," W•IIStr<CIJown•~ Apn118, 1991, pp. I, 4.

Falll993 CovcrtAction 27
again, policy-makers faced with burgeoning and unruly mi- The punishment juggernaut of the Reagan-Bush years also
nority resistance of their own making seem to have chosen a spawned an array of private enterprises locked in a parasitic
similar course: "Lock "em up and throw away the key." embrace with the state. From architectural firms and con-
struction companies, to drug treatment and food service con-
The Business of Punishment tractors, to prison industries, to the whole gamut of
Punishment is not only a crucial and ever-larger state equipment and hardware suppliers-steel doors, razor wire,
function, it is also big business. Private ownership and/or communications systems, uniforms, etc.-the business of
operation of prisons, while an increasingly significant part of imprisonment boasts a powerful assortment of well-or-
the corrections system, represents only a fraction of the ganized and well-represented vested inreresrs.
"prison-industrial complex." The cost of corrections-in- Privatized prisons, then, are not a quantum leap toward
cluding state. local, and federal corrections budjets-ran to dismantling the state but simply an extension of the already
more than $20 billion a year in the early 1990s. significant private sector involvemenr in corrections. The
The cost of constructing enough cells just to keep up with public-private symbiotic relationship was well-established
the constant increase in prisoners is estimated at $6 billion a long before 1984, when CCA first contracted with the INS to
year. 7 This figure does not address existing overcrowding, operate detention centers for illegal aliens. With private firms
which is pandemic from city jails to federal prisons. already providing everything from health care to drug treat-
The public sector imprisonment industry employs more ment, the private management of entire prisons was a natural
than 50,000 guards, as well as additional tens of thousand~ progression, especially given the tenor of the times.
of administrators, and health, education, and food service
providers.8 Especially in rural communities where other em- Prison Privateers
ployment is scarce, corrections assumes huge economic im- The growing private prisons industry- several dozen
portance as a growth industry which provides stable jobs. companies contracting with state entities to provide and/or
operare jails or prisons- is oligopolisric in srructure. CCA
and Wackenhut Corrections Corporarion dominate the upper
Wackenhut Rent-a-Cops tier, control more than half the industry's operations, and run
29 minimum- and medium-security facilities with more than
I 0,000 beds. 9
hile Wackenhut has been on best be- Beneath the big two is a tier of Jesser players: a duster of

W havior In its push for the top spot in the


private prison field, the parent com-
pany garnered much unwelcome notoriety. It
smaller regional companies, such as Kentucky-based U.S.
Corrections Corporation and Nashville-based Pricer; and
small corrections divisions of inrernatio nal concerns, includ-
provided the controversial protection for strike- ing construction giant Bechtel Corporation.
breakers in the Pittston strike. Its contract with The boom has created a shadier realm of speculators ready
the Savannah River Site and Rocky Flats nu- to turn a quick profit from the traffic in convicts. Compared
clear facilities brought In $39 million In 1992, to the big three, these smaller companies are undercapital-
ized, inexperienced, understaffed, and are more likely to fail
according to the company's annual report.
eventually. Run by hucksters, fast-talking developers, and
The company's ubiquitous presence at nu-
snake-oil salesmen, they sell for-profit prisons- disguised
clear facilities and the role of Its employees In
as economic development- to depressed rural communities
repressing anti-nuclear demonstrations-includ- desperare to bolster their budgets and local economies. The
ing Intelligence gathering - has made the term pitch is simple: Prisons are overcrowded! Build a prison and
"wackenhuts" synonymous with rent-a-cops. the prisoners will come to you! You'll reap the benefits in
The company has resorted to "dirty tricks" terms of jobs and increased tax revenues!
against its perceived foes or those of its clients. Reality is a bit more complex. Quirks in the federal rax
As security provider for the Alyeska pipeline codes remove exemptions for prison bonds if more than ten
consortium, for example, Wackenhut employed percent of prisoners are out-of-state, if srare prison officials
unlicensed investigators and questionable are reluctant to have their prisoners housed our-of-state, or if
methods to find and discredit environmentalist large ciries with severe overcrowding are unwilling or unable
whistle-blowers within the company. • to pay to rransport local prisoners hundreds of miles. In short,
in the rrade in convict bodies, supply and demand don't
always match. Prisons built on a speculative basis are a risky
venture--at least for the towns or counties involved; the
6. JJ. Oilulio. Jr•• "P.Uons for ProCic?" Commoot•ry. March 1990. speculators take their money off the top.
7. Cbarlcs H. LDgan ord Cbarlt$ W.lb:>l1\lll, ""'The llevdopmm~ Presenl Sbilusand
Future Poccntial ofCorreaional Privatization in Americ:a."in Bowman. op. c;t., p. 216.
8. Julie BeMett, "Private Prison lndll'ltry Booms in the SOulh; Nonhcrn LabO< 9. Gail DeGeorge. "Wackenhut ls Out to Prove That Crime Does Pay," 8~tsiness
Lobby Fun LDos of Jobs." HOilSlon CAronicl<, September 7, 1992. p. 4GM. Wt.X, December 17,1990, pp. 96-07.

28 CovertActlon Number46
or the most part, when the private

E prison industry exceeds the bounds


of law and order, tt abuses stand·
ards of corruption and influence-peddling
rather than prisoners. CCA. for example,
has been linked to possible corrupt prac-
tices over its cozy relationships with state
and local officials in its home state, Ten-
nessee.' The U.S. attorney in Nash·
ville is investigating charges of bribery
or kickbacks surrounding a million dol-
lar contract award to CCA to operate
the South Central Correctional Center
In Pikeville.
Suspicion was aroused by the dis- CCA founders T. Don Hutto, Thomas W. Beasley and Doctor R. Cr~mt,s.l
coveries that CCA was significantly smiling through charges of kickbacks, bribery and political chicanery.
underbid by U.S. Corrections Corpora-
tion and that CCA original shareholders were in· CCA's "scratch my back" relationship with public
fluential state and local politicians, including cur- officials is also apparent at the Silverdale Work·
rent Governor Ned McWherter; Honey Alexander, house, the first prison It managed. After Hamilton
the wife of former Governor Lamar Alexander; and County Commissioner Bob Long voted to approve
2 CCA's proposal, his pest control company was
Alexander's insurance commissioner, John Neff.
Although McWherter and Ms. Alexander divested awarded a CCA contract. When Long later left his
their company stock in 1985 to avoid conflict of government post. he was hired by CCA to lobby his
interest charges, the relationship between CCA former fellow commissioners on its behalf. 3 •
and high state officials remains very friendly. It was 1. J.M. Ke.ating, Jr., ~tking Profit irr Punishment: The Private Man·
agement of Correctional llutlfutions (Washington, D.C.: American
Governor McWherter's administration that ram· Federation or State, County, and Mumctpal Employees, 1985), p. 40.
rodded the entire privatization scheme that 2. Phil Williams, "Pnvate Prlson Company Under Investigation By
U.S.. " Nashville Tennt<Stan, Mny 24, 1992, p. 28.
resulted in the disputed contract. 3./bid.

Wackenhut center. It now operates 11 facilities in five states housing


Historically, this bottom tier bas been the locus of most of the nearly 5,500 prisoners. Wackenhut maintains two medium-
publicized problems and abuses. But although these bottom· security prisons in Australia and boasts of "prospects for
feeders attract "60 Mioutes"-style scandal of banal corrup· additional facilities in the U.S., South America, Europe, and
tion, it is in the top tiers that the most serious potential for the Pacific Rim." 11
abuse exists. While some of its competitors in the private repression
Wackenhut, founded by former FBI official George Wack· industry have specialized - Pinkerton and Burns, for ex-
enhut in 1954, is the largest and best known, as well as the ample, lead the "rent-a-cop" field- Wackeohut tries to cov-
oldest and most diversified. From its beginnings as a small, er all the bases. Its 1991 revenues reflect its corporate
well-connected private security firm, Wackenhut has grown diversity: The private security division contributed 43 per-
to a global securil{ conglomerate with earnings of $630.3 cent; the international division, 22 percent; airport security
million in 1992. 1 Prison management is only the latest services, 15 percent; contracts to guard nuclear installations
addition to its panoply of security and related services. and Department of Energy facilities, 10 percent; and, last but
When the Coral Gables, Florida-based firm first entered not least, private corrections contributed 10 percent. Given
the prison business in 1987, it bad one 250-bed INS detention

II. Vatene Ward, "The Gumshoes Ale Gone," FloridtJ Trtnd BusiMss
10. Wactellhll Cotporaion,Aimua/ Rtpon. /99/, filed "'"h lhe US. Secvnuc:s Dortlint: Wackcnhul Corporolion, .4Muol Rtpor4 1992, pp. tf>.t7, 22; and
l!ld Exchange CoiiUDI.S$ion, March 1, 1992.) lane Bamhol12.. "Cells For Sale," Pruon Lift, May, 1993, p. 65.

Fa111993 CovertAction 29
mpty private prisons and municipal coffers along with Drexel Burnham Lambert , the plan's

E pla~ue rural communities around the coun·


try. It is in Texas, however, with the nation's
highest number of private prison beds, that this
underwriter, were sued by a group of mutual fund
investors who claim to have been bilked out of $70
million In the failed effort.
4

combination has most clearly illuminated the The private prison profiteers were undeterred.
shadier side of privatization. Among the more Gilbert R. Walker- Pricer president from 1988 to
notorious of many scandals was the Pricor/N· 1990, when he lett the company in the middle of the
Group scheme. Promising ample prisoners and failed Texas prison deal-and David Arnspiger. a
profits, Houston-based N-Group convinced six Texas former Drexel official named in the Texas lawsuit,
counties to issue $74 million in bonds for for- profit joined forces. As heads of GRW Corporation and
prison construction to be managed by Pricer. Potomac Financial G roup, respectively, they put
To ease the deal through the legal and political together a similar deal in Walton County, Florida,
obstacles , N-Group owners, Houston brothers Mi· in 1992. Under the joint proposal presented to
chael and Patrick Graham, linked up with local Florida officials, Potomac would broker the bonds
power brokers . They hired an ex-governor's law to finance a new prison in DeFuniak Springs, while
firm, signed on a former Texas House speaker as GRW would manage the facility.5 After exposure of
a lobbyist, and took on the husband of the future Pricer 's shenanigans in Texas, Florida officials
state treasurer as bond counsel. 2 Covering their declined Walker's proposal. •
bets, the Grahams paid several county attorneys
and financial advisers $10,000 each to "review" the I. See Rhonda Hillbcry, ··They Buill h, But lnmat.. Didn't Come;
Minnesota Town's Private Pns.on. Buill 10 Create Jobs, AUratlcd No
deals. N-Group's assiduous wooing of politicians ·Qients'."IA.IAngeles Tim<s, February 23, 1993, p. AS; Richard Wit~
paid off: The Graham brothers collected $2.2 mil- "Crime Ooesn"t Pay O!Hor lrwm County Jail; Rental Prisc>n Holds Hard
Lesson in Fumm;c,"Atlanta Journal andCtmSliturion, Febrwuy 7, l993,
lion in bond proceeds- but no prisoners showed p. Al~ nnd Julie Bcnnen, "Butldcr's Cure or Pnvme Jails Leaves Local$
up, and the counties and the bondholders are left Ill; Pmmi!Cd Pro[iiS Nonexistent and Walls Come Tumbling Down."'
3 Houston Chronicle. September 21, 1992, p. JSR.
in the lurch. 2. Republican Kay Hutchtnson won a June 1993 run-offv.Hh Democrat
The legal and political fallout continues. In 1991 , BOO Krueger forlhcScnateseat vacated by Uoyd Beotsen ·s appoonomen1
as Tr.,..ury Secretary.
Pricer was named as an unindicted co-conspirator 3. William P. Barrett, "I Ouc.5s We Look: Stupid," Forbe.'i, February 3,
by a West Texas grand jury for its role in putt ing 1992, p. 64.
4. Kylcl'op:.'"Pri!unSellcaFrihnT~ Taia:PilchEa\t;lrdiaments,S\l~Pun;uc
together the scheme; N-Group was indicted on Backas or Florida Jail Deal," Hoos""' c:Jv<..oick, March 3, 1992, p. I B
criminal antitrust charges. The two companies, 5./bid.

the high rate of return in its corrections division- 10 pcrcenl financier Doctor R. Crants and the political connections of
compared to 1.8 percent overall-Wackenhut has indicated
that il wants to see that area grow. 12
former Tennessee Republ ican Party chair Tom Beaslev-
co-founders of the company- to win early contracts. - The
.,-
next year, CCAcut its first big deals; to operate INS detention
Corrections Corporation of America centers in Houston and Laredo, and to run the Silverdale
lis closes! rival is CCA, which despite ils youth and small Workhouse (Hamilton County prison farm) in i1s home state,
size compared 10 the Wackenhut empire, has emerged as the Tennessee. In the nex1 nine years, CCA grew sleadily to
pioneer and the induslry leader. But unlike Wackeohut, CCA become I he industry leader, with 21 detention facilities hous-
- like the second tier companies such as Pricor, U.S. Cor- ing more than 6,000 prisoners i n six states, the U.K., and
rections, Concepts, Inc., and Correction Managemen1 Af- Australia. Its profits are uf by nearly 50 percent from its 1991
1
filiates - is almos1 completely dependent on private end-of-the-)•ear figures.
imprisonment for its revenues. (continued on p. 63)
Founded in 1983 by the investors behind Kentucky Fried
13. Wtlli"""· op. cit., p. 28.
Chicken, CCA used the sales skills of Nashville banker/ 14. CorrectiOtts Corporation of America. Attmml Report, 1991, liled wilh the
U.S. SccuriliCli and Exchange Commission, March 31.1991, pp. 2-9. Tbctater
figures are from "CCA's Under tbc Microscope," Naslnill• Bus•nas Journa'
12. Wactenhut Corpontoon. A1flfUJJI hpon, 1992, p. 16. October 26. 1992, p. I.

30 CovertAction Number46
Delta Justice Part One

A Decade on Death Row


a story in black and white
by Clive A. Staf f or d Smith

" It is obvious that white folks still run Sunflower, Missis- were white. The jury, charged with dispensing equal justice
sippi," State Representative Charlie Capps wrote recently to under law, was as pale as death. 2
Laurel, Mississippi mayor, Billie Dove Parker.1 The small With pay for public defenders, even in capital cases like
town looked well-kept, he wrote, especially the city hall. Gilliard's, limited to the statutory maximum of S 1,000, few
No, no, he later insisted. His secretary had misunderstood experienced litigators were rushing to his defense. Robert 's
his dictation. What he meant to say was that the right folks court-appointed lawyer, also white, pled his client guilty to
were still in control. Some people wondered what all the fuss intentional murder and made a de.~ultory appeal against the
was; in Jones County, Mississippi, it amounted to the same gas chamber. Raben was charged with capital murder.
thing anyway. A soft-spoken 40-year-old man, who never even had so
Jones Count y is in the traditional South. The New South much as a traffic ticket's wonh of trouble before, Robert had
veneer that covers centuries of racism is as thin as the summer left school at l3 to help support his family by picking cotton
heat ts thick. As you pass and tar nuts. In 1983, wben
t hrough land scape dotted he was 38, he got into the
with s mall churches, just as wrong crowd, was involved
you enter Laurel, down the There was enough doubt in an armed robbery, and was
road from Sunflower, is a holding the gun when it went
billboard erected by the Mis- to make the executions a travesty; off and killed a man reputed
sissippi Baptist Convention. to be a Ku Klux Klan mem-
Under an unsmiling couple in ber. Robert insists that he
wedding dress, primly hold-
enough racism never intended to fire the gun.
ing hands in the doorway of a Without intent, the highest
church, is written the admoni- to make them nearly inevitable. sentence would be life in pris-
tion: "The only form of safe on with a po ss ibility of
sex." parole. Three witnesses who
There is another side to the were never called could have
traditional South: Jones County is roughly one-thud black. A testified that the gun was faulty and had accidentally gone
few miles from Sunflower 's tidy ctty hall, on May 24, 1993, off any number of times without anyone pulling the trigger.
as spring slid into the cicada-buzz of summer, Robert Gilliard
went o n trial for hi s life - again, ten years after he was
originally sentenced to death. A dismal blend of politics,
poverty, and racism bad tied his case in a Gordian J,:not of
I t took only minutes for the jury to impose a dea th sentence.
The victim's son wrote a letter to the paper thanking
everyone -!Deluding the defense lawyer- for smoothing
appeals. In Robert 's fi rst trial in 1983, the judge was white; Robert's route to eternity. Justice wa~ done, and done right, not
the prosecutor was white; the clerk of court and the bailiffs like the old days. "He would've been lynched 30 years ago,"
said one Jones County police officer, proud of the progress.
On.-e A Stafford Smuh has been staff attorney with the Soudtcm Center for Such happy signs of progress are everywhere. Testifying
Human Rlghl$ in Atlanra. Georgia for nine years. He has rm:nrty become in another Mississippi case in 1992, Sheriff Uoyd Jones-
director orthe Louisiana Cnsas Assistance C(:nter. Both are non~ profit orgaru:z..,..
cion.~; committed to thederensc of indigene persons facing chedcmh penalty. Tht:
author was lead counsel in the recent capital resencencing trial of Store of
Mississippi v. Robert Gilliard, in Jont~ County, Mississippi. 2. All eighl p<laJ1l""Y challenges us<:d by lheSIJllero exdudejurors ot Mr. Gilliard's
I. Clari01t·Udger, (laek.son. Mus.) July I. 1993, p. 2.8. fusr UiaJ taiJII:Icd blacl:s. See G1/bard v. SJa1<, 428 So.2d 576, 579 (Mi<s. 1~).

Fall l993 Cover1Actlon 31


Delta Justice Part One
When Leo first saw his jury, he knew he was
going to die. The prosecutor- still the Dis-
trict Attorney in Jackson- boasted to the
media that his "philosophy" for picking jurors
in capital cases was "to get rid of all the
blacks."6 His ideal juror, he said, was a mid·
die-aged white male with a crewcut and white
socks who welds for a living.
Despi te such philosophy, one less-than-
ideal juror made it onto Edward's jury: a black
woman. She was, however, under the strong
impression that if she did not vote for Ed-
ward's death penalty, her son, then in county
jail, would end up in the penitentiary. Also
black was a potential witness who might have
saved Edward by testifying that she was with
him at the time of tbecrime. lt was at Edward's
funeral, after I had watched them die, that she

Just before his execuUon In the gas chamber, Edward


Johnson (above), as a special privilege, was allowed to
-
be with grandmother, Jeule Mae. (Right) The Death Row
complex, Parc hman Prison, where he died.

nicknamed "Goon" by his admirers -told me that he no


longer said "nigger" to describe those he now calls "col·
ored boys," since someone told him it was offensive.
But the old days, it would seem, were as close as sweat,
and lynching, in one form or another, as real as rope. On
the day Robert'sjury came in, six men carried pistols into
the court room. The five white men were prepared to take
action if the jury decision was not to their liking; the one told me that a white policeman ordered her to go home and
black, James Nix, was prepared to defend Robert against a mind her own business-' I had been called in only in the
vigilante assault. He alone was arrested and charged with frantic last three weeks to represent them. It was clear that,
carrying a concealed weapon. in both cases, there was enough doubt to make the executions
The whites got to save their bullets. The jury did its job, a travesty; enough racism to make them nearly inevitable.
and were it not for a series of nettlesome interventions by Robert, already on Death Row for four years, watched as
appellate courts, Robert would have been swiftly executed. Leo and Edward left for the gas chamber. Later be read in the
paper that Marvin "Sonny" White, the "death squad" attorney
White Prosecutors Pick White Juries general and member of the self-proclaimed Fryers' Club, had
In the meantime, the gas chamber at Parchman did not lan- put him at the top of the list of the six men on Death Row
guish. While Robert waited his turn, two of his friends slated to die by Christmas 1992. At the eleventh hour, how-
18-year-old Edward Johnson? and 28-year-cld Leo Edwards,
4 ever, Robert was granted a resentencing trial. 8
were gassed as I watched. In between human executions, the
prison practiced gassing on rabbits, specially-bred on the
prison farm.5 The rabbits, like Leo and Edward, were black.
weeksteading up 10 the May 21, 1987 execution or Edwatd Eatl lohnil<ln.
6. Edwortfsv. Thigpen, 595 F. Supp. 1271 (N.D. Miss. 1984), referring to D.A.
3. U.....rd ur/Joltnson v. Stat<, 416So.2d 389 (Miss.l982). Edward Johnson, Ed Pel en' opmion.
a black man, wu conviaed of the: murder oC a wJute police: offiCCT in Walnut 7. ThiS case was the sub)Oct or a Sul>se<!uenl BBC dotumcn..uy, T~ Jount<)'o
Orove, Missiuippi, in 1979. BBC Documentuieo, t988.
4. Lw Edwards v. State, 413 So.2d t007 (MiL<. t982), c<rt. donittl, 45'1 U.S. 8. See Gilliard v. State, 614 So.2d 370 {MISs. 1992). This ruhng come after
928 (1982). He was convicted or mutdet in the course or anned robbery In be had been denied post-conviction relief in s tate court"' In re Gilliard, 446
Ja<boo, Miuiulppl. Then: was evidence: thai hiS oo-<le[end>nl. wbo turned So. 2d 590(Miss.l984), ,.litfde•iedsubnom. Oilliardv. State,462 So.2d 710
Wile's evidell(e, oaualty riled the gun. (Miss. t98S): as well as on federal COUJ1, GiUiard ' '· Saogg:y, 841 F 2d tt41
S. Fourreen Days in May, BBC Documemones, t987, was made in lhe two (5th Cit. t988).

32 CovertAction Number46
Delta Justice Part One
Ten Years In Death's Shadow $13,000 a year. Although smart and committed, he is just one
Except for the calendar on the wall , it would have been hard year out of law school. Even more inexperienced was the
to see that ten years had passed since Robert's first trial. third-year law student from the Ole Miss students-in-court
Again, the judge, all three prosecutors, the bailiffs, the clerk program who conducted much of the defense of a m~ntally
of courts and his courtroom deputies were white. In 1993, the retarded black teenager in neighboring Forrest County. Her
only variation on the prosecution-side color
scheme was the passive presence of Missis-
sippi District Attorney Jeannine Pacific's
black secretary who sat sile ntly at the coun-
sel table for four long days.
As white spectators were whisked
through the metal detector, Carmen Castilla,
my black co-counsel, was harassed on her
way to the defense table. Later, as hope rose
for a sentence less than death, seats in the de
facto ublacks only" section began to fill.
One white man sat t here, Rev. Stan Runnels,
\\ '.
a Presbyterian minister who firmly opposed
the death penalty. The prosecutor lodged a
complaint with one of S tan's deacons - it
is not appropriate, she declared, for a minis·
ter to show support for a convicted mur·
derer.

How the System Works


There are over five hundred poor criminal
defendants in Jones County each year. Since
1976, the government has spent an average
of three million dollars for each successful
ex~cution. For those on the other side of the Sheriff Uoyd "Goon" Jones no longer says "nigger" to describe "colored
sys tem , the public defenders, the state boys; since someone told him It was offensive.
granted just $32,000 per year in Jones Coun-
ty. Those funds- used to pay lawyers, office rent and sup· first word~ in coun were: " Your Honor, may I have a moment
plies- were divided between 2 public defenders for 500 to com~ose myself? I've never been in a courtroom
before." 0 Even after Alfred Leatherwood received the death
penally for statutory rape, the state supreme coun failed to
criticize her involvement in the case. 11
They say that ca pital punishment That is the system in which Robert Gilliard got his "fair"
trial. The progress over racism, so evident in his first trial in
means that those without the 1983, was rolling right along a decade later. When the vic·
tim 's wife, who witnessed the crime, was asked to describe
capital get the punishment. the two men who burst into her store, she replied: "They were
two colored boys .... One (Robert) had curly hair and big
lips." (In fact, his lips were not large.) The three black jurors
defendants, including eight up for capital punishment. In who made it to the jury this time around stared up to heaven;
Louisiana the maximum legal fee- irrespective of the crime the white jurors simply stared ahead.
- is $1,000 per case. Soon, I wi ll defend an innocent man At the statewide public defender association meeting,
th~re - so much more terrifying than defending the guilty. when I gave a lecture on the need for thorough preparat ion
Having already logged 1,043 hours, the hourly rate is about in a capital case, I met with members of Robert Gilliard's
98 cents and counting ... downwards.9 defense team who told me they were being pushed to trial. I
They say that capital punishment means that those without derogated their concern that the judge, whom I knew to be
the capital get the punishment. The current spearhead of the
Jones County Public Defenders, Anthony Buckley, is paid 10. Slephen B. Bngtll.lnlkfens• o{Lifo: Enforcing tlto Bill o{Rightson &half
ofPoor, Minority and Dosad>...taghl Persons Facing 1M IN<ttlo P•110lry, 51
Missouri Law Rn;<:W, 849, 859 o.. 36, Summer 1992.
9. State of LouiliiUia v. C/awoc• M. Smith, No. 296-874, Orleans Parish 1l.Alfred L•alllerwood v. Stat<, 548 So.2d 389 (Mw. 1989), reversed his
Chnunal District Court, Sec:lion C conviction on other ground$.

FaU 1993 CovcrtAction 33


Delta Justice Part One

reasonable as Mississippi goes, would actually press


them to trial on less than a week's notice. In order to
mollify them, however, I agreed to come to court on
Monday morning and help get the case put off.
Certain of an extension, I prepared for jury selection
only half-heartedly the night before the bearing.
The next morning, I arrived at the judge's ofrice
just before nine, only to be told that it is not nine
o'clock in Jones County until the judge arrives.
When he called the court to order, I explained that I
had never met Robert Gilliard, and asked for a delay.
It was denied, despite additional pl eas that defense
witnesses, now in Nevada, Chicago and New York,
would be unable to travel a thousand miles at a
moment's noti ce to testify.
Justice for Robert Gilliard took a back seat to •
politics in this county where judges and prosecutors
come up for election. Although they know the
. ,.
decision will be reversed and they agree that the
legal system in Jones County is chaotic, neither will
take responsibility for granting a continuance. Last
• ---
year, after a prosecutor in a nearby county struck 15
consecutive blacks off the jury, I noted that the
statistical probability of that happening was about
-
one in a billion. No, the judge corrected, the prob-
ability of that particular prosecutor stri king all the
blacks was actually closer to one-in-one, since it
happened in every case.
During my closing argument, I held up a police
badge inscribed "Free State of Jones County." The
slogan, I told the jurors, may have meant different
things to different people in the past, but today it
means only one tb.ing: In the Free State of Jones
County, each member of the jury is free to disagree
with the others. One can d1sagree with eleven; two
can disagree with ten; or, three can disagree with
nine.
In the end, after ten years on Death Row and six
hours of argument, one white juror voted with the
three blacks to spare Robert's life rather than impose
the death penalty. Eight white women preferred to
see Robert die. A policeman complained that race
was "injected" in the closing argument. (The
defense, for example, noted that there had been no
death penalty for Martin Luther King's assassin.)
The officer recommended that everyone should vote
with the majority, just like the good old days.
Robert was very lucky to get away with his life.
Unfortunately, his case is the exception. His life, and
any integrity the legal system still retains, rely on
the kindness of strangers, or more accurately on the
commitment of underpaid, overworked public de-
fenders. They have bound themselves to equal jus-
tice under law- a commitment not backed, either
financially or morally, by the system itself. •

34 CovertAcllon Number46
Delta Justice Part Two

Indefensible Defenses
working with a fatally stacked deck
by John Holdridge

"One of the most Important impediments to furnishing quality defense


services for the poor Is excessive coseloods. All too often in defender
organizations, attorneys ore asked to p rovide representat ion in too many
cases. Not even the most able and industrious lawyers can provide q uality
representation when their workloads o re unmanageable. Excessive
workloads, moreover, lead to attorney frustration, disillusionment by c lients,
a nd weakening of the odversoriol system. "l

Walk into the trial of a poor criminal defen- scenes. Court-appointed private attorneys also
dant in Mississippi or Louisiana and everyone are overworked and, because of the poor pay,
' - the prosecutor, the judge, the court reporter have little incentive to spend much time on
- will be reasonably paid and have time to do their court-appoi nted cases o r to develop much
their jobs properly. Everyone, that is, except knowledge of criminal law. In addition, both
defense counsel, who will be an underpaid and public defenders and private attorneys often
overworked public defender or court-ap- find it impossible to convince courts to give
pointed private attorney. them funds to hire experts. Is it any wonder, as
Public defenders in these states are bur- Justice William Brennan o nce pointed out, that
dened with oppressive caseloads two to five "indigent clients often mistrust the lawyers ap-
times higher than national standards, and are pointed to represent them.''2
given virtually no support resources. Some In Mississippi and Louis iana, the fault lies
cannot even afford film to photograph crime squarely with the state governments. They pro-
vide no money for the defense of poor people.
John Holdridge has been a staff attorney for 1hree yean with
In Mississippi, this responsibility is shifted
the Mississippi & Louisiana Capital Trial Assistance Projccc completely to financially strapped counties 3
((onnerly the ACLU Capital Punis~ment Proje<1 - Fift ~
Circuit), which seeks to improve the quality of repre-
senlation received by poor capital murder defendants in
Mississippi and Louisiana. He wro1e the briefs in SUJre v. 2. Jones v. Barnes, 4l>3 U.S. 745 (1983) (Brennan, J., dissent·
Peart and, along with Rick Tti~sie.r, argued the case before ing), citing Burt, "ConOict and Tru.!t Between Attorney and
the Louisiana Supreme Court. He also wrote the briefs and Oieo~" 69 Georgia Law Journal. 1015 (1981); Jerome H.
conducted the evidentiary hearing, along with Tom Lorenzi, Skolnick, ''Social Control in the Adversary System."Journal
in Slate v. H;gginbotJram, and is currently challenging the ofConflict Resolurion, 52 (1967).
publ.icde(endersystem in Jones County, Mississippi. Photo: 3. In 1991, six members of the l\-tississippi Supreme Court
Clarion Ledger, Vas chamber. Mississippi a.nd Georgia re- "suggest[cd) t~at the Legislature address the problem or
cently switched to more ''human¢." lethal i nject i on.~ . indigent representation on a statewide basis, rather than thrust
J. Commentary to Standard 5-4.3 of the American Bar /u- the burden on financially ~strapped co unt ie.~. '' Mtas.e v. State,
sociation 's "Standards fOI' Criminal Justicc.'' 583 So.2d 1283, 1284 (Miss. 1991).

Fa111993 CovertAction 35
Delta Justice Part Two
In Louisiana, where indigent defense is financed by local During closing argument, the prosecutor crowed that he
assessments on traffic tickets, funding levels depend on how "brought the best experts in Mississippi, brought them here
4
many tickets the local police write. because it is an important case." Psychiatrist Henry Maggio
In stark contrast, the state governments in both Mississippi testified that Harrison is "evil" and his undisputed mental
and Louisiana provide the vast majority of funding for tbe retardation and mental illness had no bearing on his alleged
prosecution of crime and pay prosecutors roughly $70,000 a behavior. Since the physical evidence did not suggest that the
year. It is not uncommon to have three assistant district victim had been raped, and that finding was essential for a
attorneys in a counroom for every one public defender - death sentence under Mississippi law, the prosecutor called
even though public defenders in these states represent an a court-qualified expert in fo rensic pathology, Dr. Paul Mc-
estimated 80 to 90 percent of all criminal defendants. More- Garry. He testified that only a penis could have caused the
over, prosecutors can hire experts whenever they want and victim's vaginal wounds. Prosecution witness Michael West,
routinely receive investigative assistance from city, county a dentist who was qualified as a bite mark evidence expert,
(in Louisiana, parish), state, and federal law enforcement testified that 41 of the hundreds of marks on the victim's body
agencies and crime labs. were bite marks caused by Harrison's teeth - that Harrison
had gone on a "feeding frenzy.'' The remaining marks, he
Guilty Until Found Innocent conceded, were ant bites. In its closing argument at the
U.S. criminal justice is supposed to be "an adversarial sys- sentencing phase, the prosecution relied on this evidence
tem ... , not an inquisitorial one:·5 Moreover, ~[i]n an adver- when it roared:
sarial system, due process requires at least a reasonably level
playing field at trial.'.6 Poor people charged with crimes in Then by God the worst possible thing happened .... I can't
Mississippi and Louisiana soon learn the field is so skewed conceive of anything worse. The animal went on a frenzy ...
that they are more like distant spectators to a game in which Dr. West said Henry Lee Harrison went on an eating frenzy
their life or liberty is at stake. like a piranha attacking a piece of meat. He came from
Take the case of Henry Lee Harrison. A poor black man every angle, pulling kind, biting kind, and scraping kind.
from Jackson County, Mississippi, he is both mentally re-
tarded, with an IQ of 54, and paranoid schizophrenic. Ac- Because the trial court had denied Harrison funds to hire
cording to testimony at his trial, only one-tenth of one percent either a pathologist or a bite mark expert, those prosecution
of the world's population suffers £rom this "dual diagnosis." experts went unrebutted. The prosecutor charged the jury that
In 1989, Harrison was ac- Dr . McGarry's testimony
cused of raping and murder- compelled it to find Harrison
7
ing a young white girl. Be- guilty of rape because
cause he was too poor to hire "The system of indigent defense "[t]here was no evidence to
his own attorney, the court ap- the contrary."
pointed a local public defend· in Louisiana is beyond crisis stage; The jury convicted Henry
er with an annual caseload of Lee Harrison of capital mur-
some 700 cases. To put that it is on the verge of collapse.· der and sentenced him to
burden in context, national death. Today, he sits on Death
legal organizations, including Row awaiting the Mississippi
the American Bar Associa- Supreme Court's decision on
tion, have stated that the case loads of full-time public defend- his direct appeal. Along with his direct appeal brief, his
ers should not exceed 150 felony cases per attorn~ per year lawyers have submitted affidavits challenging two of the
- and then only if no capital cases are included. prosecution experts. In his affidavit, the bite mark expert
stated that it is impossible to tell whether the marks on the
victim are bite marks, let alone who or what caused them. 9
4. In tile firsrhalr or t 990, Easr Baron Rouge ran our of pre-prinr«< rraffic uckcu The pathologist disagreed with Dr. McGarry and labeled his
for several months. tbro\\.1ng the pubhc defender office into a financ&~J cnsis.
(The Spangenberg Group, Study of thelndi11••• Defmtkr Systtm ill Louisi•n• testimony scientifically unacceptable because "a forensic
Gt25, Man:h 1992.)Al>O in t 990, Ihe head or !he lake Charles public de!coder pathologist cannot establish within a reasonable degree of
organization, wh1ch was experiencing il.\ own financial crisi~ pleaded With local
law enforcement o(ficials to write more uamc tickeiS. medical certainty that a penis caused- and only a penis
$. 0.. Freece v. State, Texas Cr. Crlm. App. No. 0502·92, February 24, 1993. could have caused- vaginal wounds.'' 10
Tex.as bas one of the worst indigent defender systems in the country. Whether or not these sworn statement - beams of truth
6. /bitl
7. He'""' abo accused of mlll<lcring a yoong black girt, bur (hal case neverwenrro lrial. in a darkly ominous case - come too late remains to be seen.
8. See Special Commiuoc on Criminal Justice in a Fn:c Socie<y of lhe American
Bar Association (ABA] Criminal Jusrioc Scaioo, Crimimll Jmtice in Crisis: A
RtpOrf to 1M American PM(>Ie and rM AmtricaJr Bar on CrimiMIJusr;ct in 1M
UniteJ Sto~a· Some Myths, Some Reolitio, and Some Quations fer the FOIUr<. 9. All'idavir or Dr. Hany Mincer, professor, Univcr>iry of Tennessee Sdrool of
ABA Quninal Juslic:e Secnon, November 1988, pp. 4243; Narional AdviSO<}' Dentistry.
Q>mnv•rcc Slandard 13.12 (maxtmumof 150relonycases per lltomey per )eat); 10. Allidavir of Gerald A. UIIZZll, professor of pathology. Louisllllla State
N"ionallegal Aid and Oerender Asooc:oalion, Guidetine 10~. (same). University.

36 CovertActlon Number46
Delta Justice Part Two
Mississippi: Serving at the Court's Pleasure over $150,000 provided by the State of Mississippi), is
It is not just poor defendants in Jackson County who play roughly six times larger than that of the Public Defenders'.
against a stacked deck. Consider, for example, the indigent That figure does not include the free office space and equip-
defense systems in Jones and Harrison Counties. ment provided by the county, a recent salary increase given
At a recent bearing in Jones County, Mississippi, Robert to prosecutors by the state legislature, or the proceeds from
Spangenberg, a nationally recognized expert on legal ser· the DistriCt Attorney's worthless check unit. The district
vices for the p oor, called that county's indige nt defender attorney is very tight -l ipped about income from this unit, but
system "the worst funded system" be has seen in his "almost it is reputedly a gold mine.
20 years of doing this work. "
The county's two "part-time" public defenders are paid a Harrison County, Mississippi
miserly $64 per felony case. On a pitiful $32,000 annual In Harrison County, indigents are represented either by court-
budget provided by the county, the ir office handles roughly appointed private attorneys or by part-time "contract" public
500 felony cases per year, including capital murder cases and defenders who serve by court order for a "period of appoint-
appeals. Neither the ment [that] shall be at
state nor the county the pleasure of the
provides anything else: • • • •
• Court." These orders
n ot office s pa ce or raise the question of
equipment; not money exactly which master
to cover out-of-pocket the public defender is
expenses; not even the serving - the client
costs of taking an ap- or the judge. Vigor-
peal.ll ous advocacy on be-
Needless to say, the half of poor criminal
public defenders, who defendants, particu·
handle about 90 percent larly those charged
of the county's felony with serious felonies
cases, are overwhelmed. such as capital mur-
The first time they meet der, seldom , if ever,
their clients - includ- "pleases" elected jud·
ing those rotting in jail ges.
- is generally six With their prince-
months, and sometimes !y S22,000-a-year
a yea r, after arrest. salaries, Harrison
Meanwhile, important County's "part-time"
' .
evidence is lost or grows p u blic defenders
stale, and witnesses have average about $98 per
disappeared or forgotten case. Their average an-
critical events. nual case load is 225
By contrast, the Dis- felony cases, includ-
trict Attorney's Office ing capital casesP
has at least five full · Drawn by Ed Crawford, o . .th Row, Jackson, Georgia. Not surprising ly,
time employees , in· since 1988, at least a
eluding two attorneys and an investigator. and gets to hand dozen contract public defenders have quit in disgust.
• over its appeals to the state Attorney General's office. The In some instances trial judges, recognizing the impossible
Jones County DA's office budget, at $200,000 a year (with overload, appoint private attorneys, who, in Mississippi{ are
supposed to receiveS 1,000 per case, p lus $25 per hour. 3 In
one currently pending capital murder case, however, there is
11. Prior to the Mississippi Supreme (;()on's decision in Wilson v. Statt, 574 strong evidence that the judge asked a number of attorneys
So ~d 1338 (Mw. 1990). ~hen! werdew public def<oder off.a:s. Vinoally all to do the case for free, threatened to pull names from a hat,
counuc$ in the .state relied on pnvate lawyers who were p:ud a maxunum of
Sl ,000 to represent their poor criminal defendants regardless of how many hours and eventually asked attorneys for estimates - much as a
the) expended In Wilson, rheMiuwippi Supreme Coun held thai, in addition builder does for aluminum siding.
ro the St,OOO, pnvate counsel were entitled ro he reimbursed 1 paJuy ru ••
hour for overhead costs. After Wif,ton, numerous counties established inade-
quately fund~ public defender offices to save money. Currendy, a number or
other counties IIC OOOS:idenng pubhe ddender offices. ln UOorc County. for
example. a county supervisor recently complamcd about the amount or money
the county wa." paying private attorneys, ond s1a1ed that 1he solution IS 10 12.. Survey by the Mississippi Public Oc(cnders Organu..auon. 1993.
estabhJb a. public defender office and staff h with recent law gradu;wes. 13. See S111te v. Wilson, supru.

Falll993 CovertAdion 37
Delta Justice Part Two
Louisiana: Legislators Will Be Legislators Lake Charles, Louisiana, decided to take matters into his own
In 1990, the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana ap- bands. Mark Delphin had been involuntarily appointed as
pointed a commission of judges, prosecutors, and criminal lead counsel to represent a 17-year-old defendant charged
defense altorneys to study the quality of representation for with capital murder. A personal injuty lawyer, Delphin had
the state's poor defendants. This commission, in turn, hired not practiced criminal law in years. At a subsequent hearing,
Robert Spangenberg to collect data and make recommcnda· he testified that his appointment to the capital case "shocked"
tions. llis March 1992 52-page indictment did not mince him and, at the time of the appointment, his knowledge of
word~: "The system of indigent defense in Louisiana is criminal law was "vague." His co-counsel, David Dwight ,
beyond crisis stage; it is on the verge of collapse." Among had represented only one criminal defendant in his J 2 years
the most disturbing findings were that: of practice, and that defendant had pleaded guilty. At the
• The ~y~tem "is hopelessly underfunded in vinually every hearing, Dwight testified: "I have no knowledge of criminal
judicial district in the state" because reliance on traffic law whatsoever."
ticket~ is "wholly insufficient to ensure quality repre- After receiving his appointment, Delphin was told that he
sentation. n and Dwight would neither be paid for the defense nor even
• "Most indigent defenders around the state are suffering reimbursed for such out-of-pocket expenses as telephone
fiom overwhelming caseloads that are two or tluee times calls and photocopies. 18 Delphin was stunned. H e recognized
the acceptable national standards." the unfairness of asking his client, or any capital murder
• "Virtually without exception, indigent defender defendant, to place his life in the hands of an attorney who
programs tluoughout the state have insufficient staff, at will lose more money the harder he works. The people of
both the altorney and support level." Louisiana, so fervently in favor of the death penalty, were
• "Most indigent defenders are substantially out-matched apparently unwilling to pay its costs. 19
when compared to the resources made available to the Delphin and Dwight filed a motion seeking reasonable
various district attorney offices." compensation . Soon after, a similar motion was filed by
• "Indigent defenders around the state are suffering from Alcide Gray and Anna Gray (no relation), private practice
extremely low salaries, which are uniformly below those attorneys in Lake Charles. They, too, had been involuntarily
available in district attorneys' offices." appointed to represent a teenage capital murder defendant for
• ''Tbe representation of capital defendants at trial is par- free. Gray, the teenager's lead counsel, had lost his health and
ticularly gross due to the lack of training, experience, been forced to declare bankruptcy largely because or his
availability of expert witnesses and lhe lime necessary to work on two 1982 capital cases. Ms. Gray had never repre-
devote to the cases. There is also a general lack of sented a criminal defendant and, a1 a later hearing, testified
knowledge and compe1ence by court-appointed counsel that her appointmen1 to the capital case "scares me to death."
in the sentencing phase oftrial." 14 On March 21, 1991 , a trial court summarily denied the
Spangenberg concluded that at least $10 million - but motions, ruling: ~The Court has no objection to paying attor-
really $20 million - in additional funding was needed to neys who are appointed. The question is: Where is the pay-
correct the system's numerous flaws. After the Louisiana ment going to come from?" The attorneys appealed the ruling
Supreme Court's commission and its Judicial Council en- to an intermediate appellate court, which held that th~ were
dorsed the report and ils conclusions, legislation based on the entitled to compensation, but only a token $1,000. TWo
recommendations was quickly drafted and submitted to the years after the trial coun ruled, and almost three years after
1992 state legislature.
And what did the legislators do? They shelved the bill 15
and, instead, voted a salary increase totaling $5.4 million for IS. In Louisiana. dependang on lhe localily, some pnvare anomeys reoet\'t a
the state's prosecutors.16 When the bill to reform the public nwnmum of $1,000 per case, and ochers. even in capital murder ca\C:S, rccca,•e
oothing a1 all. Needless to s.ty, tnal couru have a dtffieult time: Cindmg pnvate
defender system was reintroduced the nex1 year, it was auornc:ys wilhng to ac:cept coun appoanuneniS, panicularl) to c:apttal cases
shelved again. 17 Apparently, the war on crime garners votes; Take, for example, 1he case or John Franc1s Wille, currentl}' housed on Oea1h
the war on injustice does not. Row lD Lou1stana. Mr. W1lle's attorney wasappoanted lO represen1 h1m to fulfill
a condition of proba1ion on tt federal felony charge. State "·· Willt, SS9 So.2d
1321,1339(1.a. 1990).
No Knowledge of Criminal Law Whatsoever 19. The National !.<gal Aid and D<rcnse Associauon has reponed that 36
percent or assign~ counsel 1n Mas.sat-huscus responding to a 1985 survey,
While the Supreme Court's commission was holding hear- ad mined that they had onuned .some appropriate defense ac.1ivity be<:ause of
ings and conducting its study, a lawyer in private practice in Inadequate compensation, Omi~lons included: rully investigAting the ((1(:15~
interviewing wttncs.'ies or the police; filing pre·trial motions; and adequately
rcscarchtng the low. (Nt.ADA, Suucwidc Evaluation of the Massachusetts Bnr
14. Spangenberg Group, op. cit, pp. 3840. Advocote Program 34, 1986.) The ABA responded to this study in its "Guide·
IS. On May 19, 1992, the Louisiana Senate Judiciary Commncc "C' unani· lines for the Appoantment and Perfonnancc of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases"
mously voted to defer aclion on SRS 92-1632. which sought to crc~nc a uniform by stating that "[o)mi~sions or such critical activities, shocking an any cJ.Sc:,
and adequately funded statewide indigent defender sy5tcm. would be: unconscionable in CMe.s involvmg dcfcndanLS who face the prospect
16. See 1992 La. Aw 1045,1064, and 1065. of death. for ttuJ rc:ason alone, couns~l ill capital coses ought 10 rtc~n.~
17. Tim.s·PtCG)'UM (New Orleans). May 1&, 1993, p 84, reponed thai the adequo~ reim/xlrsement for llt~ir srn;us •• (Commentary to ABA Guideline
Senate Judactary Comnuucc unaninx>usly \'()ted to kill SB 60 wh1ch wught to 10.1~ (Emphasts added.)
establish a stace-.tde md•gc.nt defender s)'Skm. 20. Suu~ v. Wigley t11td Higgi•bolham, 599 So2d ll.S8. 864-65 (La. App. 1992).

38 Cover1Aclion Number46
Delta Justice Part Two
Delphin filed his motion, the case currently is pending in the increased substantially and that tbe state government must
Louisiana Supreme Court - and has been for well over a provide the money, Judge Johnson subpoenaed to his cham -
year. Apparently, the Louisiana Supreme Court, too, is bers the president of the Louisiana Senate, the speaker of the
wondering where the money is to come from. Meanwhile, Louisiana House of Representatives , and the president of the
many poor capital murder defendants in the state are still Louisiana Bar Association to discuss supplemental funding.
being asked to place their lives in the hands of lawyers who
lose money defending them - and who can cut their los.~es Hope on the Horizon?
only by doing a slap-dash job. 21 On appeal by the state Attorney General's office, the Lou-
isiana Supreme Court found Judge Johnson's remedies "in-
"Not Even a Lawyer With an 'S' on His Chest Could appropriate at this time," and reversed?2 In another
Handle th is Docket" unprecedented ruling, however, the Court held that criminal
Unlike many other overburdened public defenders, Rick defendants have a right, prior to their trials. to an attorney
Teissier was willing to say the unthinkable: "I am not doing with uthe time and resources to apply his skill and knowledge
my job." After Delphin filed his motion, Teissicr, a staff to the task of defending each of his individual clients....[Be-
attorney for the Orleans Indigent Defender Program (OIDP) cause of] excessive caseloads and the insufficient support ... ,
in New Orleans, filed a motion aptly entitled, "Motion for the provision or indigent defense services (by Teissier) is ... so
Relief to Provide Constitutionally Mandated Protection and lacking thai defendants who must depend on it are not likely
Resources." to receive the reasonably effective counsel the Constitution
The sole public defender in Section "E" or Orleans requires." And although the Court "decline[s] at this time to
Criminal District Court, Teissier handles between 80 and 90 undertake ... more intrusive and specific measures," it did
percent of the section's cases, apply a rebuttable presump-
and generally is pitted against tion that Teissier cannot pro-
two or three deputy district at- vide his clients with effective
torneys. He has a cascioad of representation at trial , and or-
about 600 felony cases per Apparently, the war on crime dered Judge Johnson to stop
year and his poor clients the trials in all cases in which
routinely spend 30 to 70 days garners votes; the war on the presumption is not rebut-
in jail before they meet him. ted.
The bareboncs OIDP has only The Supreme Court's
three staff investigators and a
injustice does not. decision may - or may not
tiny support staff for its 7,000 - produce better repre-
cases a year. sentation for poor people
Teissier 's judge- unlike charged with crimes in
Delphin's - listened. On Louisiana. Since cuminal
February 22, 1992, newly elected Calvin Johnson acknow- defendants have a constitutional right to a speedy trial, one
ledged that the deck was stacked against criminal defendants important, unanswered question is whether defendants will
and issued a visionary opinion that received national atten- be freed if the new decision unduly delays their trials. If
tion. The judge ruled that the OIDP: defendants are ruled eligible for release, the Louisiana Legis-
lature will no doubt move quickly to provide additional
operat[es) on less than a hope and little more than a prayer . funding for indigent defense in the state. If not, the decision
... Not even a lawyer with anSon his chest could effectively will simply mean that indigent defendants wtll rot longer in
handle [feissier's) docket. [Teissicr) does not have ade- jail, waiting to go to trial. Another troubling question is
quate time nor re-wurces to consult with his clients. He whether other public defenders in Louisiana will use the
• does not have the ability to investigate fact or law and he decision to bring similar challenges. So far, unfortunately, no
is unable to adequately prepare....[His problem] is greatly other public defenders have challenged their workloads in the
exacerbated by the lack or everyday, common resources wake of Judge Johnson's visionary opinion. Apparently, they
• (investigators, parat.:gals, law clerks, expert witnesses, a were unwilling to swallow their professional pride and say,
secretary and a library). "I can't do my job under these conditions." But if poor people
charged with cumes in this country are to have a chance, that
The relief ordered by Judge Johnson went to the root of is exactly what their court-appointed attorneys must say -
the problem. Holding tbat the OIDP's resources must be ru. loud! y and as often as necessary. •

21. Soon after tho compensation motions were G1ed, ttlc teenage derendontl Nnder rooot 1he mDhOn$ for compen..llaUon. On appeal, the State or Louistan3
accep4c<l an offer to plead guilty to manslaughter, a rare plea offer in capital has arguc<lthal the motions are moot h<:causc of the guilty pleas.
murder cases. II could \\CII be that 1hese. gtncrous offers ":ere an anempt to 22. Srat.v. Leonard Peart, Nos. 92-KA.Q907 and 92-KD-1039 (July 1993).

Fall 1993 Cov~rtAction 39


NUCLEAR WASTELAND
en c
~

a: m
)>
~ c
!<
c
..J r
0 m
0 C)
w )>
0
~ -<
In the name of national security, 40 years of nuclear weapons
production has turned the Savannah River area Into a national
sacrifice zone of chemical and radioactive pollution. The
danger to the public and the environment will last for centuries.

Ron Chepesiuk

The Cold War is over. While the U.S. basks in the winner's renee Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, Calif.),
1
circle, the people around the Savannah River Site (SRS) Oak Ridge Reservation (Oak Ridge, Tenn.), Pantex Site
near Aiken, South Carolina, are losers. After 40 years of (Amarillo, Texas), and Idaho National Engineering Labo-
helping build bombs, they have lost a safe environment, ratory (Idaho Falls)- in the running. If chosen, SRS, despite
many have lost their health, and soon more may lose their its dismal performance and environmental records, will get a
jobs. SRS -the major production site for the manufacture new lease on life.
of tritium, the radioactive form of hydrogen requi red for The U.S. government's song-and-dance justification for
nuclear warhead~- is a case study in monumental environ- the recurring nuclear nightmare at the S RS, familiar during
mental neglect and negligence. After 30 serious accidents and the Cold War, remains unchanged: National security justifies
14,000 "incidents," the Savannah River area (along with secrecy, environmental degradation, and even a few cancers
Hanford, Washington, and Rocky Flats, Colorado) has be- here and there. Tritium was vital to national security and its
come a national sacrifice zone. uninterrupted production justified hiding U.S. policies and
The Department of Energy (DoE) is conducting a Pro- their toxic consequences from a public put at risk. 2
grammatic Environmental Impact Statement on reconfigura-
tion of the whole weapons complex. It is expected to One of the World's Biggest Construction Projects
recommend creation of Complex-21 , a one-stop bomb fac- As the Cold War was heating up, the federal government,
tory for the 21st century, wh.ich will consolidate the military's through the Atomic Energy Com mission (which later became
nuclear facilities. SRS is one of the six sites - along with the Department of Energy [DoE)), initiated one of the biggest
Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, N.M.), Law- building projects ever undertaken. In June 1950, it estab-

Ron Chepe.<iuk is on the racully o[ Winthrop University in Rook Hill, South


Carolina, and a freelance writer whose article., on the environment and intcmn· 2. Brad Swope, "DOE Reactor Suit Could Hurt Seeurity;• Aiken Standard
tional afrairs have appeared in The Progrt.SJi~ Boston Phoenix, USA Today, (S.C.) Mareh 20, 1989, p. A l. Using tritium has allowed the U.S. to build -
E: TMEIMronmmtMagazjn~AmicusJoun~a(St. Perersburgrimn, and Wild/if< while mai naaining explosive power - smaller and faster warheads 1ha1 can travel
c:....s.n..t'...., atmQg others. Pboco: Robm Del Tredia, '1:' Reac~or, SRS. fanh<r w!tb gn:Meratturaey. "Slopping the Arm< Raa: attbe ~ - ~p
1. Savaru>ah River "Plant" (SRP) was n:namod "Site" (SRS) on April I, 1989. to Slop Nuclear Weapons Product-· Grw.,.-Aaim, July 1989.

40 CovertAction Number46
lished the Savannah
River Plant and con·
tracted its design and
construct ion to E.!.
DuPont de Nemours
Company? Completed
in 1954, the 192,323-
acre site (approximate-
ly 300square miles) was
taken over in 1989 by
Westinghouse Electric
Corporation and its sub·
sidiary, Westinghouse
Savannah River Com-
pany, which was re-
sponsible for day-to·
day operation.
From the beginning,
DoE collaborated with
DuPont and then Wes-
tinghouse to place pro·
duct ion quotas ahead of
safety and environmen- George Couch, a maintenance worker for 22years, was tired by SRS shortly before retirement after
tal considerations. A he contracted polycythema v era, a rare blood cancer associated with r adiation exposure.
series of congressional
investigations, Freedom of Information requests by environ· Environmentalists raised early concerns about danger to
mental organizations, General Accounting Office audit reports, health and safety, but were hampered by lack of hard evi-
and whistle-blowing.s by former SRS employees have docu- dence. "Prior to the 1980s, almost anything that happened at
mented a consistent pattern of deferred plant maintenance, SRS, including the release of contaminants, was secret," says
poor personnel training, and management inattention to Brian Costner, Director of the Columbia, South Carolina·
health and safety issues. SRS, consequently, has become a based non-profit Energy Research Foun dation (ERF), an
polluted isla nd of chemical wastes a nd radioactive hazards independent enviro nmental organization that, since its
that will endanger public health and safety for centuries to founding in 1980, has monitored t he SRS. "The U.S. govern·
4
come. ment said it was necessary to protect the SRs·s production
process from any kind of scrutiny because the plant was vital
National Insecurity to national security.'"7
At first, the only people who complained were refugees from 11 took the growing environmental movement oft he early
the towns destroyed to make way for SRS. 1980s and the Chernobyl disaster of April 1986 to rouse a
"They told us to move and take our dead wit h us," recalled comatose Congress and a disinfo rmed and largely disinter·
5
C. Forman, one of the 723 residents of Ellenton Displaced ested p ublic. T he Soviet catastrophe triggered an intense
residents did just that, moving 12 cemeteries containing review of nuclear safety standards around the world. DoE,
5,984 graves. Many faced tough times as the government did for example, conducted several safety studies on reactors at
6
little to help them move or resettle them its nuclear weapons plants. The findings were not sanguine:
• The reactors which were buill in the 1950s to produce pluto-
nium as well as tritium were aging and unreliable; the safety
3. The construction ofSRS was touted as the biggest project s1nc:c: the Panama programs were inadequate.8
Canal. William Lanoueue, .. Weapons Plane at 40: Savannah Rlver•s Halo Not until1988, however, didSRS's legacy become widely
Fadc:s, .. Bullr.tin oftheAromic Scitnt,.sl3, December 1990, pp. 27·28. The 51te
includes parts of Aiken, Allendale. nnd B:unwell counties, aJl located in South known. A panel of members of the joint House Energy Sub·
Carolina, and i.s bounded on the southwest for 27 mHcs by the Savannah River. commillee and the Senate Government Affairs Comm illee
SRS is one link in a chain of 13 (acilitic.s owned by the DoE 10 produce nuclear concluded that the facility was a Chernobyl -like accident
we.11p0ns. The huge national complex covers 3.900square miles in 13 states and
employs about 90.000 people. ("'What is the Savannah River Plant and what IS
iu pufJ!O"e1" R<t<orchNOI.s, Energy R""'"""' Foundation [ERF), und:llod.)
4. James B. Edwards, "Tritiwn Slolna~e C.n Elldang<:r U.S. Nuclur Dctcr- Times Magazin~ and the Wasllington Post in the early 19SOs. For a description
=~" 1M Srar< (Columbia, S.C.). December 19, 1989, p. 2B. The poonto of condilions a1 New Ellenton. one oftbe towns creaaed by SRP's c:oostrvction,
prcscnkd 10tbis teeter, Written by I former South catofinagovc:mor, lrcl)piCal. KeA Cuuchas, "lbeDeathorElteOIDD," Cr-c<, May-Junel988, pp. 13-19.
S. Wilham Lanouette, "Our T.,..n Venus Nauonat Secunty," Bullttm of 1M 7. Author's interview, Decc:mbcr 14, 1992.
AtomrcSci~ntists, December 1990, p. JL 8. "Savannah River Plant Takes Another Broadside," ERF, April 10, 1992,
6. O.:orgc McMillan's investigattvearttelcsthat appeared inHarp<n, N<w Yor* p. 13.

Fall l993 CovertAction 41


The secretary, it turned out, was too easily satisfied. On
waiting to happen.9 According to its own documents, the
December 13, 1991, afler nearly lhree years of controversy
government bid at least 30 serious mishaps including:
and an estimated $1 billion in safety and modernization
• January 1960. After a rapid shutdown of o ne of the five improvemenls to SRS, Watkins approved the restart of the
16
reactors (designated C, K, 1..., P, and R), operators vio- facility's K-reactor, the nalion's only source of tritium.
lated numerous safety procedures when they tried to Almost immedialely, problems began. After initial tests,
17
reestablish full power within 29 minutes - 12 limes workers had to replace a faully safety rod. O n Christmas
faster than the allowable rate. )[ the 500 megawatt-a- Day, a heat exchanger at the reactor malfunctioned and about
minute power rise had continued unchecked, the coolant 150 gallons of radioactive uitium leaked into a stream that
would have boiled very quickly, melted the fuel, and fed the Savannah River, prompling SRS officials to stop I he
18
caused a serious nuclear accident. tests until the exchanger could be replaced
Westinghouse Electric insisted the leak posed no health
• May 1964. For40days,areactorshutdown button didn't and safety risks. This assenion was challenged in a govern-
work, making emergency shutdown nearly impossible. ment investigation which found I hat tritium levels in excess
of Environmental Protection Agency standards forced a ten-
• November 1970. After three attempts failed to start the day shutdown or the water pumps serving the South Carolina
C-reactor, operators ignored the possibility of trouble and counties of Beaufort and Jasper. 19 II was the second time in
tried again. A fuel bundle in the core melted. five years that pumps on the Savannah River, which forms
• December 1979. During a brownout, a crane moving part of the South Carolina-Georgia border, were closed while
10 radiation from SRS flowed pas t the drinking water intake
reactor fuel stalled, leaving hot fuel partly exposed
valves 20 When the leak moved 150 miles dowmiver to the
Confronted with this evidence, members of the two con- coast, Georgia state environmental officials asked the owners
gressional committees were quick to chastise DoE for failing of two oyster beds around Savannah to close their beds until
1
to ensure that Du Pont operated SRS safely. House Energy further nolice. It was the height of the oyster season.Z
Subcommittee chair Mike Synar (D-Okla.) described the
SRS operation as "frightening.'' John Glenn (D-Ohio), chair Changing Political Environment
of the Senate committee, declared the revelations "very dis- For lbose who have followed SRS's chilling saga, the
turbing ... , unsettling." Both failed to question - or even alarming pattern or contamination and accidents was nothing
mention- that although the list of 30 "accidents" was com- 11
new. What had changed was the political context.
piled in 1985, it was not made public until three years later. Nuclear disarmament developments since 1991 had put
The damning revelations, studies, and reviews which fi- into question the rationale for pouring billions or additional
nally emerged forced SRS to reduce reactor power levels by dollars inlo the SRS and other sites in tbe nuclear weapons
SO percent in 1988.t2 A 1988 DoE internal study revealed that complex. On October 27, 1991, President Bush announced
critical pipes were webbed with new cracks and that officials that the U.S., as part of an arms agreement w ith Russia, would
2
had failed to deal with potentially inadequate seismic brac- dismantle 3,000 of the nation 's 19,000 nuclear warheads.Z
ing.13 T he DoE finally acknowledged that deleriorating faci- On January 3, 1993, the U.S. and Russia signed the Start II
lities and widespread contaminalion- caused by nearly four treaty lhat would significantly reduce tbeir slrategic nuclear
decades of neglect and mismanagement- endanger~d pub- weapons by two-thirds. If the proposed culs are implemented,
lic heallh and safely. The production o f uitium and plu- the two countries would be left with 3,000 to 3,500 warheads,
lonium, radioactive elements essenlial 10 lhe making of roughly their levels in the 1960s before the advent of multiple
14 23
nuclear weapons, ground to a halt. warhead missiles.
~Reslart ofany ofthe(SRS) reactors will not be authorized
unlil I' m satisfied lhal they can be operated safely," DoE 16. Gonion Tholll'""' and Sleven C. Sholly, "!.a's X-outlhe K. • Bull.rut of
Secretary James D. Watkins promised in a teller 10 Senator rh<Awmic Scienusu, March 1992, pp. 14-tS; "Savannah NucleaJ Sue Ocored
Sam Nunn (D-Geo.) of the Armed Services Comminee.ts 10 Rc:sumeProd""•on. LosAngtltsTim-... December t4,1991. p. 22A: "Opera-
tion Set tO Re.\t3J1 DoE Tritium Reac1or,"' ERF nev.•s relea\e, ~ovember 11,
1991, p. II; Keith Schneider, "US. Rc:staning Nuclear Arm< Reactor," N<w
YlWk Times, Oecemher 14, 1991. p. ISA.
17. "Delay in Rc,.aJ1," Charlotre Observer, January II, t992, pp.I-2C.
9./bid. 18. "Kreacror Lc:<Wi Coolanlrnto Str<:~m," CharlotteOb:um..,., Do:crrber26, 1991,
10. Dick Tho~son, "Big Trouble at SavaMah River," Time, October 17, L988, p. 2C. A heat dwgc:r, lL~ 10 cool the rc.oc.tor, is a boxcar..si2£ d<.'Vite fiUed wilh
p. 37; Lee Bandy, "Secret Mishaps Revealed," TlieStnte, Ocoohcr 1,1988 thous.l'Wl~ oftubcs containing heavy wmcr.1lle tuOO> are cooled with river w;J:er.
p. 6A; "Savannah River's Scaty Saga," U.S. News QntiiVorltl Rtporl. OC1obcr 19. "PoopleSkepliCIIofSRS Leaks," ChQr/otr<Obsen:er,lanuaty 13,1992, p. 2C.
l7, 1988, p. 13. A brownout is a cut in electrical current which results in a panial 20./bid.; and "SRS Rodimlon Leaks Makes U:.en of Warer Down.\ln:am
blackout of power. Rethink Plans," Ch•rlotr< Obstrver, December 28, 1991, p. 2C.
11. /bid. 21. "Grccnpeace Soy> SRS Should Pay for Spill,'' Char/olle Obstrvtr, Jonu•ry
12. /bid. 17, 1992, pp. 1-2C.
13. "Sroppins rhc ArmS Race...... op. cit. 22. John Wmters, ••Rcaaors Oedsion Delayed,'' Augusta Chrorucle. Aug\&St 7,
14. ·~the Savan11311 River Plant Rea<ron Safe7" (A Series of Facl Shreu 1992, pp. lA. SA; and "New Production Reaclor Delayed,'' Research Updat<
P~q>~n:<l for 111e Public), ERF. Columbia, S.C. (ERF). October I. 1992.
IS. Scotl Shq>ord, "Energy Settewy ,.,.... Back SavaMah Rrver Plan~" 23. ChDrlotte Obsm'tr, Scpremb<r 30, I992. pp. I A. 6A.
Atlonro ColtSmutiorr, Apnt 28, 1989, p. 3A.

Number46
42 CovtrtAction
SRS's importance was further diminished in July when since no military reason compels the production of tritium in
President Clinton announced that the U.S. would extend its 1992, the reactors should not be restarted until additional
moratorium until September 1994 and would not be the first safety upgrades were completed 27 Since Hollings and
country to resume underground nuclear testing. This decision Spratt, along with Thurmond, had been frequent recipients of
followed public and congressional outcry and reversed the PAC contributions from DuPont and Westinghouse, the letter
prest'dent 's prevtous
. .
commitment .
to conttnue t he tes t"11tg. 24 reflected a significant change.28
Meanwhile, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board,
Political Tide Turns Against SRS a watchdog body usually very sympathetic to the DoE line,
As the political tide turned, the old justification of national began an investigation of SRS's latest problems. The DoE
security lay exposed on the polluted shores of Savannah was once a~ain under intense pressure to delay restart of the
River. K-reactor. 2
Even those who drew short-term benefits from the plant
began to wonder if it was worth the human cost. Until Blowing Whistles and Falsifying Records
recently, the people of Aiken and the surrounding counties The cracks in the reactor's plumbing and the legislative
had remained stead- uncoupling from the
fastly loyal to SRS SRS bandwagon
and the military-in· opened enough space
d ustria l comple x. for SRS employees
Economics- t he to risk blowing the

good jobs, schools, whistle on the safety
and li festyles that and environmental
SRS hus brought - violations. One un-
had been more named Westinghouse
important than "lib· engineer, wit h 2 1
er a! " pining for years' experience in
peace and nuclear the commercial and
disarmament. In· naval nuclear fields,
deed, SRS is South wrote a letter to Wat-
Ca rolina's biggest kins, revealing that
employer with about -·· SRS officials had
26,000 employees
I .•.,~. . .... falsified records so
on an annual payroll ·' they could restart the
of $750 million. nuclear plant before
P l an t purc hases SRS r eprocessing area with high-level storage tanks. SRS, which covers 300 it was safe 30 T he
pump in another $40 square m iles, Is part of the huge federal nuclear weapons complex that extends nex t mont h, an·
million to the state's over 3,900 square mil es In 13 states and employs about 90,000 people. other SRS worker
25
economy. A quar- cha rged that in
ter of the workers live in neighboring Georgia . order to meet a December 1990deadline to restart the K-reac-
"It's a real nuclear cu lture," explained Tom Clements of tor, Westinghouse violated long-standing rules about work-
Greenpeace. "You can't really talk to the locals about the ing in radiation areas.3 1
problems because almost everybody in Aiken and the sur- Changing geopolitical considerations and public pressure
rounding area is tied to the SRS in some way. ·· 26
were forcing DoE to reassess the role and scope of its nuclear
South Carolina's power brokers, most notably Sen. Strom

Thurmond (R), had been cheerleaders for DoE's efforts to
make SRS the flagship of the country's nuclear weapons 27. Sbaryn W!Zda, "Delay on Re$1artls Sought," Charlou• O~~r. JanU11ry
17, 1992, pp.I-2C. Watkins, M admiral, was chiefof naval operation.<,l982-86.
arsenal. But, they too, began to sniff the shifting political 28. Federal Election CommiSSIOn, Commille~ Index ofCa.ndidaJ.es Supported/
• Oppo.sed for election cycles 19&5-86, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1990-92. The West·
winds. On January 16, 1992, less than a month after the oyster
inghouse PACi~ among the top 20 contributors to members oflheSenateArmed
bed scandal, four South Carolina legislators, including Sen. Services Commiuee; see Larry Mok:lnson, Open Secrets: The Encyclopellio of
Ernest Hollings (D) and Rep. John Spratt (R), sent a letter to Congressional Money om/ Politics (Cong.rcs$iOnfLI Qu.anerly,Inc.: Washington,
Energy Secretary James Watkins. They recommended that D.C., l992). Sen. Thunoond wa.-t the ronkingminorily member of the Subcom-
mittee on Nuclear Deterrence unlal1992.
29./bid.
30. "SRS Worlcers Say Rules VoolaHOM Eid,.," Char/or,. Ob~r1>U, Seplemh<r
24. R. Jeffrey Smilh, "President Extends Moratorium on Undergroun<J Nuclear 7, 1992, p. 82. Sevetal other workers have crittt1zcd and blown t!K cover off
Tcsa," WashingtonPos~ July 4,1993, p. AI. SRS safety management Slandards and perfonnance; see William L.anoueue,
25. $4\oMalt River Plant Publte ln~'Of,~enc Plan. Unncd S.llc:s Ocpartmenl "WeaJlOns Plalll at 40· -Savannah Rover Halo Fades," Bulkrin ofIM Atomic
or Enetgy, Scplembcr 8. 1992. p. 13. Scientists. Decembetl990, rp.27-28.
26. Aulllor's mteM<:W, November 2. 1989; aemenu ""' th<n South<asltm 31. John Win~<rs. "Engineer Says SRS Took RJSk,- AugwraChronicle, August
Coonlinalor for o-npeace. 7,1992. pp. LA, !SA.

Falll993 Co vectAction 43
weapons complex. Secretary Watkins announced that the contamination and pollution on human health. The only gov-
department would indefinitely delay choosing the site and ernment studies of radiation from SRS and other nuclear
technology for a new production reactor. DoE had planned to bomb factories (and even those have been inadequate) con-
build a large, heavy water reactor at the SRS to supply 100. centrated on workers and nearby residents.
percent of the nation's tritium ne~ while a smaller one Recently, the government has begun to examine the broad-
would be bui It in Idaho as a backup. 3 er health effects of radiation leaking into the environment. 35
A team of a dozen scientists, under contract to the Centers
Extent of Pollution for Disease Control, is now poring through 15,000 file boxes
In April 1993, DoE officially put the production of tritium at relating to the SRS. They hope that these records, classified
SRS on bold. It could not so easily halt pollution. "Top Secret," will reveal evidence of the extent of the leaks
From its construction, to the early years of the Reagan and the attempt to cover them up. "This study is going to tell
administration, SRS's round-the-clock defense of the "free the truth about the releases from this site," says group mem-
world" created the most contaminated industrial site in South ber John Till. "It will not be s urprising to me to find informa-
Carolina. Although no one can really measure its extent, tion about some very large releases of radioactive doses to
environmentalists say widespread and severe soil and ground people that no one really knows about. "36
water contamination will threaten the region's drinking water If Till is correct, it will not be the first time studies have
supplies for generations to come. In addition to waste dump shown that contamination at the weapons plant ranks as one
sites, plant managers filled underground tanks with as many of the biggest environmental disasters in history and poses a
as 35 million gallons of high-level radioactive liquid waste; significant health risk. In 1990, for example, a study showed
they put hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of transuric that as many as 13., 500 residents of the area near the Hanford
site may have received heav~ doses of radiation to their
7
thyroids during the late 1940s.
With actual reduction of radioactive This Washington state facility has nine nuclear reactors
spread over 560 square miles. It contains concentrated levels
waste an impractical goal, cleanups of plutonium syrup and other toxic chemicals which can kill
simply shift the poison from an quickly if released into the environment.38 In addition, DoE
estimates that Hanford has produced at least 625,000 cubic
immediately dangerous site meters of solid waste and that about 200 square miles of the
to a potentially less dangerous one. ground water is contaminated. One DoE report actually ad-
mitted that, while some c hemicals break down into harmless
material, others remain dangerous forever. 39 Many of these
wastes (elements heavier than uranium) in interior storage pollutants can kill s lowly: They are carcinogenic,
facilities; and they buried an estimated 21 million cubic feet teratogenic, and/or undermine the human immune system.
of low-level radioactive waste in trenches.33 The plan to
vitrify and store the 35 million gallons on site is plagued with Covering Up
problems: It is two years behind schedule and hundreds of SRS and DoE have worked together to hide the extent of the
millions over budget. damage. The pattern of corporate and government collusion
Vast quantities of the byproducts of the SRS operation- and lying at SRS is reflected not only at SRS and Hanford.
acids, solvents and other hazardous chemicals and waste but also at other military nuclear facilities around the country.
which became even more dangerous when contaminated with After years of protest a nd leaked reports that workers have
radioactivity- were sent to hundreds of grossly inadequate been burying radioactive waste in unsafe incinerators and
waste dumps on site (burial grounds, seepage basins and dumping it into drinking water, federal agents finally raided
storage tanks). This poisonous brew has begun to migrate into the Rocky Flats, Colorado site in 1989 and shut it down.
the water supply and to the surface, to contaminate ar~as (Plutonium triggers for all nuclear stockpiles are made at
beyond the SRS's regulated borders. 34 Rocky Flats using plutonium from Hanford and SRS.) Still,
the government has tried to reopen the military facility,
No Assessment of Danger
Incredibly, although the potential is murderous, no one really
knows or has seriously attempted to assess the effect of the 35. In February 1986, DoE rclea1ed a 9().pagc rcpon. Becau.~erccordsonworker
exposure at SRS were incomplele, it concluded. workers were probably exposed
to even greater amounts of mdiauon than reponed. (See .. Pianl R.adtarion
Rea<Jing.; Su•pect," The Stat<, Fc.bruary 16, 1993. p. 2C.)
32. "Anm Pact Sla$he:s Arsenal." Char/one 0'-nw, JaniW)' 5. 1993. p. lA. 36. "Old Secret Files May Tell Group More Abour SRS," CharlOt" Obrm~r.
33. "Savannah Rtver S1a1e Involvement Plan.'' DoE, Sq>tember 8. 1992; "Sa· February 16, 1993, p. 2C.
vannah River Plan~ Deadly Defense Radioactive Waste Campaign.'' 1988 37. "A·W..,pon Clean Up Estimates Doubled," Los Angeles Ttm.s. February
(Radioac:live Was1e ea,.,.tgn,l'l. Y.); and "Radtoactive and Hazardous Wa<te ll. 1991. p. A22.
at Savannah River Site," Research Nott!S, ERF. February 1993. 38. Doug Garr. "Too Hot to Handle." Popular ScielfC~, August 1992. p. 35.
34. Aulhor's interview. Tom ~mcniS. June 16, 1993; " Radioacliveand Haz. 39. Bmd Knickerbocker, "Cost of Nuclear Waste Ctcon Up to the Btllions;·
ard ous '"
" as1es...." up.
. Cit.
. Chris/ian Sc;tna M onilor. AprilS. J992.

44 CovertAction Number46
insisting that it remains vital to the national defense. The DoE sponsibility for the regulation and oversight of nuclear wastfl
has even poured nearly two billion dollars into repairs and the report concluded, should be taken away from the DoE.
. . 40
Among concerns mitigating against a cleanup are:
saf ety mspechons.
In the spring of 1992, after a suit initiated by concerned No Coherent Str ategy: Public concerns over health and
environmental organizations, Rockwell International, Rocky environmental effects have yet to be addressed, the OTA
Flats' operator, pleaded guilty to mishandling toxic wastes at report went on, largely because the government lacks the
the site and agreed to pay $18.5 million, the second largest necessary expertise and organization to deal with the prob-
fine ever levied for illegal pollution. lems. "Among the missing elements (is) a coherent strategy
In fact, an investigative panel of the House Committee on for evaluating potential off-site human exposure to radioac-
Science and Technology reported in January 1993that Rock- tive and hazardous contaminants..."
well had gotten off lightly. The seemingly impressive $18.5 DoE's Conflict or Interest: "It doesn't make a lot of
million fine was actually $4 million less than Rockwell's SRS sense," charges Dr. Gaytha Langlois, a biology professor at
earnings from 1987 to 1989, the period when it illegally Bryant College and a water pollution expert who has studied
polluted. The panel also charged that the Justice Department the environmental impact of the nuclear weapons complex,
lost the chance to pursue individual indictments aJiainst not "to put oversight and monitoring activities in the bands of an
only Rockwell employees, but also DoE officials. agency [DoE) that is encouraging the development of nuclear
energy. It doesn't have any reason to be overcautious."45
Cleaning Up on Cleanup Industry's Conflict oflnterest: ''Tbe financial winners in
And what of SRS's future? With a bah of operation of nuclear the environmental destruction at SRS und other weapons sites
production reactors at SRS, many DoE officials are looking are the private contractors such as Westinghouse and Martin
for ways to continue production of nuclear weapons materi- Marieua. These companies made profits from making nu-
als. Although President Bush bad declared in July 1992 that clear weapons and created the associated environmental
no more plutonium or uranium would be produced for U.S. nightmares. They are now gleefully profiting from the bil-
nuclear weapons, a faction within DoE has been pushing to lions of dollars being shoveled out in an attempt to clean up
keep the SRS alive. Under the guise of "waste management," their own messes. The losers in the cynical game are the
they want to restart the aging reprocessing facilities. A
42
taxpayers and the environment."46
battle is brewing within DoE over the reprocessing issue, as Lack of Regulation : James D. Werner, recently nominat-
the old guard tenaciously eli ngs to the almost religious belief ed as policy director at the office of environmental restora-
that plutonium is the national resource of which we must tion and waste management at DoE, faults the incestuous
produce more and more. Eventually, they assert, the U.S. wiU regulatory mechanism. An expert on the nuclear weapons
use it either in nuclear weapons or as nuclear power fuel. and a senior environmental engineer with the Natural De-
Even if that faction loses out and SRS never resumes fense Resources Council, he argues that the "historic lack of
production of any sort, the site will remain toxic and the external regulatory controls is widely believed to be one of
operators will continue to reap profits at taxpayer expense for the primary causes of the massive environmental and safety
years to come. DoE has announced plans to address the problems now bobbling the nuclear weapons complex." 47
widespread environmental damage caused by 40 years of No Presidential Leadership: Clinton has yet to make a
atomic bomb making 43 Congressional and weapons experts, public statement about cleaning up the nuclear weapons
as well as environmentalists, expect the cleanup to supplant complex, and without presidential leadership, little will hap-
nuclear weapons production as the plant's primary mission. pen beyond the accumulation of more reports. "I have not
In any case, criucs are less than enthusiastic about pros· seen anything from Clinton that shows be wtll take a pro-
peels for restoring the environment. DoE's ov~rsight of the nuclear cleanup stance," says Langlois 4 8
nuclear weapons industry has been consistently and woefully Poor Technology: Even if the government were to de-
inadequate and the government is hampered by lack of funds, velop the will, it does not have the way to clean up four
• will, and technology. A 1991 congressional Office of Tech- decades of nuclear garbage. According to James D. Werner
nology Assessment (OTA) study concluded after an 18- and Dan W. Reicher, Esq., DoE's goal of cleaning up all tbe
month investigation that the DoE has yet to reach a realistic weapons sites throughout the nation in 30 years is "unrealis-
assessment of the magnitude of the cleanup costs, and bas tic" because it isn't based on meaningful future estimates of
neither the credibility nor the capability to do the job. Re- the work to be done and the availability of the necessary
technology. Glenn Paulson, an environmental engineering
(cotrli11ued 011 p. 65)
40. "PaDel or Congressand Otizcns Deal Willi Bomb PlaN," Christi"" Scitnce
Monitor, January 6, 1993, p. 8.
41./bid. 44./bid.
42. Rqnoccss.lng, the chemical .separation of plulonium aoo uranium from 45. Author's interview, February 12, 1993. Bryant Olllege is in Smithfield,
nuclear materials, is the only way DoE has ever handled spent nuclear fuel even Rhode Island.
though it cnates a huge vohuneor high-level nuclear wa<tc and is condUCted a1 46. Author's Interview. July 29, 1993.
two facilities so large they an:: called f. and H..canyons. 47. Author's tntef'·iew. February 9, 1993.
43. Knickerbocker, op. cit., pp. 6-7. 48. Aulhor'• in1erview, February 12, 1993.

Falll993 CovertAclion 45
T he bete noire of the current U.S. obsession with economic espionage is not the
.1. furmer USSR or even Japan, but France. Throughout the debate over the mission of
U.S. intelligence agencies, references to French espionage against U.S. companies have
aroused considerably more anger than, say, Chinese spying. There is an element of hurt
surprise in the complaints, as if this were a betrayal. This spying is neither old, nor, of
course, exclusively French, but the Gallic model provides some usejlll insights into the
motives and consequences of economic espionage in an age of transnational enterprises.
The chief beneficiary of French espionage is a computer company, Machines Bull.

French Bull: Spies for Profit and Glory


Doug Vaughan

Groupe Bull is a state-owned holding company that sits at The head of the FBI's counterintelligence unit in the San
the very center of France's formidable military-industrial Francisco area, Edward Appel, described Silicon Valley as
complex. Economically and politically, it is akin to the key- the top target of the french intelligence service, Direction
stone in the Arc de Ttiomphe: With more than 40,000 em- Generate de Ia Securite Exteriure (DGSE), and designated the
ployees, Bull ranks first among European computer-makers, giant French state-owned computer firm, Groupe Bull, as the
sits among the top ten worldwide providers of information chief beneficiary of that spying.3 Indust rial espionage, now
services, and sells its products in more than 100 countries. 1 a visible focus of CIA and other U.S intelligence agencies'
A state-of-the-art computer industry is e.~sential to French activity, has a long history with the French-U.S. wus, one of
grandeur. The relationship between modern weaponry, espe- the most active in the second half of the twentieth century.
cially nuclear weapons, and computers is symbiotic: Ever A common French method of recruitment b 10 offer
more powerful computers are military defermems to graduate
needed for the research and de- students willing to cooperate
velopment, design , engineer- The French were prepared to do when they get jobs with U.S.
ing, production, management anything to save the company which high-tech firms. In one case, a
and security of nuclear weap- French national was caught as
ons, and for the industrialization was not only a source of potential he prepared to leave the U.S.
of nuclear power that supplied profit, and essential technology, but a with the source code of a new
both fuels and weapons-grade symbol of French independence and program developed by Renais-
uranium and plutonium for sance Software of Palo Aho.
weapons systems. 2 international prestige. O.lit. Another security consu lt-
Groupe Bull, however, has ant described how a client
been losing large amounts of opened an office in Paris only to
money since the late 1970s despite massive infusions of discover that his business pluns were in the hand5 of local
public funds for research and development. Like its chief competitors who had somehow obtained them from his com-
4
rival, IBM, Bull had lost its competitive edge. The French puter's hard-drive when he was in transit to France.
govemmem was prepared to do anything to save the com- In one widely reported incident , two American executives
pany, which was not only a source of potential profit and visiting Paris left their laptop computers and a prototype of
essential technology, but a symbol of French independence
and international prestige.
3. Appel 's prode<:<ssor in the Bay Area, Patnck Watson, IS now deputy ""'"t.111t
diredor of the FBl, ovct5ceing counterintelligence on the economtc front.
t. Fmrcll C-11)' HllNI>ool; 1991 (Pllis: lMemational Hemld Tribune~ p.33. 4. RobynStcwan-MutT3)'. quoted in Nonn Alsler, ""The Valley oft~>: SpiCS," For/xs,
2. See Ricbanl Rl>odes, ~ M<Wng oftho Atomic Bcmb (New York: Simon & Oclol>er 26, 1992, p. 2GI; aulbor quooes au OISIIO, cxcc:wh.. din:cax. M>niOCh
Scllus1er, J986)i on lhcerfecuon the French state, seeJ1m Falk, Glt>bul FiSJiOII: Sll1Jiegic A.uocial<:•. San Mateo: note also remarks by 1ohn O'laushhn,ex-FBt
The Battle Over Nuclear Power. (London : Oxford University Pun), 1982). agent and dhc:ctor or corporate sccun1y, Sun Microsystems, Pttlo Alto, Cahr.

46 CovertAction Nu mber46
a "smart-pen" and electronic pad in their· hotel room while
they went out to dinner. When they returned, the computers
had been stolen. In a Houston suburb, an off-duty cop spotted
two men rooting through the garbage can behind a private
home; they looked too well-dressed to be homeless. The cop
took their license plate, which was traced to the French
consulate. The bouse belonged to an executive of Texas
Instruments. The consul-general, Bernard Gillet, said the two
Frenchmen were collecting grass clippings to fill an unsight-
ly hole in the consulate garden.5

Groupe Bullln Deep Merde


The beneficiary of these dirty tricks was Groupe Bull.
Despite long-standing suspicion that the company was deep-
ly implicated in industrial espionage, the U.S. Air Force in
September 1992 awarded the largest ever contract for desk-
top computers to Bull's U.S. arm, Zenith Data Systems
(ZDS). The ensuing fray reveals much about the forces that
drive and sustain economic espion~ge.
Originally, 22 companies had bid on the procurement ,
Desktop IV, for as many as 300,000 personal computers,
software, peripheral equipment, and support services es-
timated at $1 billion or more. Responding to intense scrutiny l'Exprees
in Congress and the press, the Pentagon - hoping to avoid a "It would not be normal that we spy on the States In political
procurement scandal like the $600 hammers, $1 ,000 toilet matters; we are really allied. But in economic competition,
seats and billion-dollar boondoggles of recent memory - In technological competition, we are competitors; we are
used a new, streamli ned procedure to evaluate bids. It not allled," 9 said Pierre Marion, former head of oGse. After
awarded the contract to two small companies, CompuAdd his tenure as president of Air France, it was charged that the
Corp. of Austin, Texas, and Sysorex Information Systems, airline bugged Its first-class seats to gather economic
Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, in November 1991. The big Intelligence lor the government.
losers, including ZDS, IBM, Apple, Memorex-Telex, AST
Research, and GM's Electronic Data Services, protested and
the award was set aside. In the interim, a vicious price war Although Bull bad denied the accusation, 10 the weekly
broke out among desktop vendors, prices tumbled, and the news magazine L'Express, broke the story in May 1990 and
contract was opened to a second round of bidding, won by placed the blame at the feet of senior government officials
6
ZDS. Predictably, another round of challenges ensued. trying to prevent the s1ate-owned compar.y from falling fur-
The losers raised the specter of foreign ownership and ther behind its international competitors. In late 1986 or early
suggested that ZDS's access to the Air Force's classified 1987, the article revealed, the foreign intelligence service,
information could compromise national security 7 Given the DGSE, was tasked to steal anything that would help Bull. DGSE
technological cross-fertilization, transnational operations, agents recruited senior managers and technical personnel
and multinational cross-ownership of most of the bidders, the working in the French subsidiaries of U.S. companies, in-
charge would be at best hypocritical. But in ZDS 's case, it is cluding IBM and Texas lnstruments. 11 For at least two years,
not simply a red herring waved about by sore losers: Bull bad these employees passed on sensitive research data and mar-
• a long record of industrial spying coordinated by the French keting information to DGSE, which turned them over to Bull. 12
government. A senior FBI official and tlie former head of In fact, Bull had been receiving stolen property since the
French intelligence confirmed reports, first circulated in ear- 1960s as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise conducted by
ly 1990, that French intelligence agents collected industrial DGSE's dirty tricks bureau, Service 7. The operation included
secrets from U.S. firms and passed them to Bull. 8 a dozen or so burglaries a day to snatch or copy documents
left in Paris hotel rooms by visit ing businesspeople.

5./bid
6. Peter H. Lewis, "Air Force PC Contract ror Zenith," Ntw York Times. 9. Pierre Marion, NBC News E:xpase, September 12, 1991.
September II, 1992; s<-.: also European Report, September 23, 1992; Defense 10. "France's Bull Denies Press Repoli of Spying Against U.S. Firms," Wall
& Aerospace Elect.ronics, Seple.mber 21, L992. Street Journal, May 18, 1990, p. A7.
7. "Foreign Dir<..-ct lnvcstment in 1he U.S. Aerospace/De(en'ie Market," In~ 11. l ean Lesieur, "l< Scandal des E.1pions Fran~ais," L 'Expres., May 18, 1990.
dustries in Transition, November 1992, p. 7. Coming Incorporated was later identified as a targeti see ..Air France De~ies
8. Michael \Vines, "Frcncb said 10 spy on U.S. computer companies," New York Spying on TraveJer.i,"lntemationlll Herald Tribune, September 14.1991.
Times, November 18, 1990, p. A4. 12. Jay Pctcrtell, "When ' Friends' Become Moles," Time, May 28, 1990, p. SO. --..

Falll993 CovertActv
The issue of Groupe Bull lay relatively quietly unti11991 business interests which, like Bull, s tood to gain from the
when the former head of DGSE Pierre Marion confirmed the partnership. 18 When de Gaulle gave Gen. Grossin his march-
L'Express expos~\ and went it one better: He proudly admitted ing orders, the chief of SDECE advised the boss that he had
his service had directed espionage agains t U.S. commercial neither the personnel nor the apparatus for the job. Grossin
and industrial targets for many years. It was a matter of was told to recruit people with economic, scientific and
routine- and Bull, among others, was the beneficiary.13 technical training from other ministries, but civil servants
Marion indignantly denied a companion report that DGSE considered the idea repugnant. SDECI!'s dirty tricks bureau,
agents, sometimes posing as crew or passengers, planted Service 7- originally created to open diplomatic correspon-
hidden microphones and transmitters in the first-class cabins dence between countries and their embassies in France-
of Air France's international flights to gather political intel- using the latest electronic techniques along with old-fash-
ligence and commercial secrets. That allegation, attributed to ioned black-bagjobs, made acquisition of economic informa-
unnamed U.S. intelligence experts, was dismissed as ridicu- tion part of its mission.
lous by the airline. "It is quite absurd to think we would put The U.S. learned it was a target of French intelligence
microphones in our seats," a spokesperson said. "We cate- from Anatoly Golitsyn, who defected from the KGB in 1962.
gorically deny the charge that we have ever spied on our He told his debriefers that the Soviets had thoroughly pene-
passengers." He added, "We have no knowledge that any of trated DOSE, including Service 7. The Soviet operation, di-
14
our staff belonged to the secret serv ice. " This pique was, at rected at U.S. scientific and military secrets, turned the
best, disingenuous, given Service 7's recruitment of Air Gaullist's "independent" espionage into a eat's paw of the
France pilots in a long-standing scheme to fly their planes KGB's First Directorate. Golitsyn's revelations were passed
off-course so that sensitive installations in other countries to the SDECE's Washington station chief, Philipe Thyraud de
could be photographed.15 Vosjoli. He was in a bind: If he followed instructions and
The French attitude was what came to be known in the cooperated with Se'rvice 7, he feared the information would
Watergate era as a "non-denial denial": "We didn't do it, but be passed to the KGB by its moles. When he refused to
if we did, it was a long time ago and we stopped, and we cooperate, his superiors suspected he had been rurned by the
promise never to do it again." If they had stopped, they were CIA. If not true at the time, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy:
soon back at it. Milton J. Socolar, special assistant to the Fearing execution after he was ordered back to France, in
Comptroller General, said during the 1980s, the French in- 1963, he defected, bid in Mexico, and dodged the hit teams
telligence agency had targeted IBM and other U.S. com- of the Action Service's Red Hand, which had eliminated
panies in France and even in the U.S., DOSE a~ents passed dozens of Algerians and their sympathizers. When the U.S.
6
data on IBM 's coming generation of PCs to Bull. "This was gave him asylum and a new identity, it o nly confumed the
just business as usual for the DOSE," a special agent of the suspicions of his superiors. 19
General Accounting Office said. 17 After the Golitsyn-de Vosjoli imbroglio, the SDECE lost
some of its stomach for economic espionage. Its officers and
Same Old Bull "honorable correspondents" overseas were more content
France has put varying degrees of emphasis on economic with organizing coups d'etat through mercenaries in Central
spying during the post-World War II era. Its first major effort Africa, such as the secession of Katanga from Congo and
grew out of the Gaullist conviction, shared by the Socialists,
that economic, military and political power were coeval and 18. Only lately, with the dissolution or the Soviet Union and 11.s bloc, have U.S.
interdependent bases of nationa l security. In his triumphant officials, by contrast, come to elaborate a doctrine of na1ional securi1y that
return to power in 1958, Charles de Gaulle reorgani:ted the proclaims oconomic csptonage as part of the mission ofthe intclligenceag,enc•es
in gathtrifti positive inaclhgencc. Prev1ou.sly, the issue was rouched in terms of
French intelligence services toward this end. The Service for councerincclhgcnce operaoorrs designed co deny U.S. tcd!nology and data with
External Documentation and Espionage (SDECE) was ordered military opplication.t to those foreign countries Jpccificd as hostile under the
Anm Control Act and export regulations. The regulation of ex pons fell to the
to step up its rather informal operations to obtain technologi- SLate Dcpanment's Office of Mu.nilions canuol, in consulta1ion with the
cal informati on from the U.S. and Western Europe for Defense D<panmenc, wbde enforcement ran chc: pmut from the FBI co cbc
France's nuclear weapons and other programs. What distin- Custorm Service, co the ATF. The law WM honored on cbe bn:ach by the CIA
when policy considcmuons and prc.\idcntial direcuve.' overrode rhetoric about
guished the Gaullist effort, especially in its later refinement keeping dangerous stuff out of the hnn<L~ of terrorlsls. The official pos.ition of
by the Socialists, was its open collaboration with French cbe CIA and NSA declared commereial•nformauon off.Jimlcs. Sec. e.g., com.
mel'ltS of cx·OCJ Sta.nsfield Turner, 1n PeteruU, op. dt., and the oonfirmauon
bearings of Robcn Gates as DCI, Scnacelncethgcncc Comnuuoe, t991.
19. Faligoc, op. cit.: ond Nigel West, Game3 ofl•telligence (New York: Crown,
13. NBC News Expose, Scpcembcr 12, 1991: soc: also lamt:S Adarm, "France 1990). Oolits)'n ·s defection is examined b)' the man himself, Ntw Lies jQr Old
steps up spying on both friends 01ld foes," Th~ Sunday Tim.s (London), April (New York: Dodd-Mead.1984); by a conven co formcrCIAcounccrincetllgcnce
s. 1992, p. 1. chief James Angle~on'• setf-<lestrucu•·e mole-hunt, Edward l. Epstein. D«<p·
14...Air France.. :·, International Herald TribUM, op. cit. tion: ~ /n..Uiblt Wa1 Btt~ten 1M KGB and the CIA (New York: Simon &
IS. Roger Faligoc and Pascal Krop,La Pi.JCine: The Frttteh Secret Service Since Schuster, 1989); by a skeptic, David Martin, Wilderness ofMirrors (New York:
JPU (New York: Blackwell, 1988). p. 193. Harper & Row, 1980), ond by debunkers of a serie.• of false defectors who
16. Cited in Bill Gertz. "Friends. foes said co employ business spies," Wll.Sh· provoked splits within CA and belwe:c:n Western agencies, W1lliam R. Corson,
U.gton Trmn, April 30, 1992, p. A3. SusanB.Mdlosephl. Tn:oco, Wido~(NewYork: Crown, 1989). De Vosjoli's
17. Rooyn Slewart·Munay, quoted in AI seer, op. cit., p. 2QI; "The Open Bam version, Lamia (Booton: Unle, Brown, t970) baclc.s Goht<yn- and tile: II
Door," Newswoek, May 4, 1992, pp. 58-59. mutual patron, Angleton.

48 CovertAction Number46
23
Biafra from Nigeria, the installation of the dictator Bokassa series of deals for weapons systems. More recently, French
in the Central African Republic, and others in Mali and agents were alleged to have tried to steal data on radar-evad·
Chad.
20
ing "stealth" technology in the U.S. 24 The Frencb also in-
During his tenure as head of intelligence, 1981·86, Pierre creased reconnaissance by aircraft and satellite, including
Marion reestablished the importance of economic intel· remote sensing of targets in both Europe and the u.s.25
ligence by adding a third directorate (in addition to General
and Operations) for Planning, Forecasting, and Evaluation. Serving the National Interest
Though relatively sm'all, this new branch had a mandate from So there was nothing unusual in the French Government 's
President Mitterand to intensify efforts to collect scientific 1986 directive to DGSE to aid the state by stealing for Bull,
and technological intelligence with economic as well as its crippled computer company. The CIA and FBI dispatched
military value. Marion had taken over the service in 1981, teams to investigate the incidents in late 1989 and the State
from Count Alexander de Marenches , an "Atlanticiste" Department fired off a confidential protest note to the French
whose political affi nities I~ government. After the 1990
1 L'Express story, W. Douglas
with the right and the CIA.
After a decade of his leader- Gow, assistant FBI director
ship, the triumphant Social- for foreign counter-
ists - Fran~ois Mitterand,
The French attitude was what came to be intelligence operations, con-
er a/. - feared, not without known in the Watergate era as a firmed the account, but
reason, that SDECE bad de- declined to elaborate. The af-
generated into a haven of non-denial. "We didn't do it, but if we did, fected companies buttoned
fascist hysterics and military it was a long time ago and we stopped, and their lips officially, but their
retainers inimical to their security experts were not so
right to govern. A decree we promise never to do it again." diplomatic: "There's no
from the Elysee abolished question that they have been
SDECE in April 1982 but CS· spying on IBM's transatlan-
tablished the DGSE under tic communications and
Marion. Before he was abruptly fired near year's end, Marion handing the information to Bull for years," said Robert
had directed the new directorate to approach its mission with Courtney, formerly with IBM?6
an urgency in d irect proportion to Ia malaise of the economy. Many legal scholars, political analysts and commentators
Two examples illustrate the importance of the DOSE's have said the industrial espionage scandal exemplifies the
operations during the 1980s: In 1985, India deported a French alienation of the centralized French state from the populace
diplomat after breaking, perhaps with American help, a spy over which it rules: Excessive secrecy in the formulation and
ring that implicated three aides to Prime Minister Rajiv implementation of policy, lack of accountability, subordina-
Gandhi. The French bought information, including details of tion of ethical norms to commercial considerations, and jus-
an American company's bid on a deal to supply jet fighters tification of official criminality on grounds of "national
to the Indian Air Force. The French state-owned company, security" reduced to crude self-interest - these traits tran-
22
Aerospatiale, won the billion-dollar contract. That same scend the government of the moment and contradict the
year, British agents turned the tables by passing details of a trappings of parliamentary democracy; they have come to
French aircraft offer to the Saudis. This allowed British embody the state, the bureaucracy that serves it, and the
companies to win the contract. which grew into a $30 billion political parties of which it is composed. These qualities are
not uniquely French, as events in the U.S. so aptly illustrate.
But in France, the ideology and apparatus of national security
:W. Fah&OI, op. d<, pp. 191-209. are open and accepted. National security constitutes a kind
21. De Mnrenchcs purged holf of lhe 2,001).man fon:e and compUlcnted rhe of meta-apologia, excusing and rationalizing all that "serves
sor£1l's dora proce«ing - wilh help from Bull. De Marcnchcs' p« projecl
was Ihe "Safari Club," o consonium Formed with the 5ecret police of the Shah France" and condemning anything perceived as a threat to
of Iron. Saddam Hus.ein of Iraq, Anwar Sadal of Egypr, and rhe Saudi inlel· national pride and wdl-being. •
bgmoe service ron by Kamal Adham (laler famous as a key player in rhe
machinauoo.s of the rogue BanJ; ofCommer<:eand 0<dJ11ruemauonal, Bcx:::J).
The Saftui Club ploucd with the Ponuguc.;se fascists to overthrow Pra1dc:nt
Sekou TourC of Guincu and 10 SS51Ustnatc Arnilcar Cabral, leader of the 23. Faligor. op. cir., pp. 2&2·&5.
independence movement in Guinea-Bissau. They backed thedlctacorSiad Barre 2A. Alster, op. cir., p. 200; "The Open Barn Door.'' op. cir., pp. 58·59: and
in Somalaa. The)• tri<d lo kill Libyan Col. MuanunarQIIddafi. They schemed 10 Departmenl of OdcnseSeeurhy Institute. Recent Espionage Coscs: Summttriu
prop up the Shah. They forg<d a srml<&ic alliance wirh BOSS. rhe Garapo of IUid Sources, Morda r989.
South ACnca's apartht!ld - all in the name oC s1oppins: the spread or Soviet 25. Richetson, op. ciL, pp.l72·73.
influence. (Ibid., pp. 245·76.) 26. /bid. For commenrs on Ihe &•neral problem, see DoD Security lnslilure. op.
22. Jtr(rcy T. Richclson. Foreign Intelligence Organizac;ons (Cambridge, cit. With speelfic but pa--.sing rcrcrcnce to Bull, soc Daniel P. Scuro. "Allies ...
Mass.: Ballinger, 1988). p. 162, citing Saeven R. WciMtl3n, "3 Fn:nchmen or Enemies?" Security Management, January 1992, p. 78~ "Votre Sccn::1s,
linked to Indian Spy C...e," N<wYorkTi~Ms., January2A,l985, p.A-3; Sanjoy Monsieur?" S«uriry Managemtnr, Octoher 1992, pp. 35-36; and Machael
Hazanb, "France Recalls Aide in India After Report of Spytng Luatc." Ntw Alc.1311dc:r, "tndi&Sirial espionage with U.S. runs rampanl." ComputttW~Kid,
York Timts, January 21 , 1985. p. f\9. March 4, 1991. p. 64.

Fall 1993 CovertAction 49


Law Enforcement or Desktop Surveillance?

The NSA's Clipper


Proposal
David Sobel

In a digitally linked world, where encryption is the key


to privacy, banning encryption may be like banning privacy.
Rtp. Edward Markey (0-Mass.), Chair, House Ttlerommunications Subcommilltt.t

A s the U.S. geared up for wa r aft~r Japan's auack on P~arl announced that Clipper would " improve the security and pri·
f i l . Iarbor, thousands of U.S. government censors opened vacy of telephone communications while meeting the legitimate
over a million pieces of mai l daily. In their search for coded needs of law enforcement." 4 While the underlying technology
messages, the examiners routinely rearranged postage stamps is quite complex (see box, p. 52), the basic concept behind the
to foil secret messages, and purged envelopes of potentially Clipper chip is that two "trustworthy," independent "escrow
subversive items such as crossword puzzles, knitting instruc- agents" (still undestgnated) would each bold half of the secret
tions, children's grade reports, and Christmas wish lists.2 Fifty "key" necessary to decipher an encrypted transmission. Upon
years later, the U.S. is on the verge of revisiting this s trange presentation of a court order. the "escrow agents" would turn
juncture in its history as paranoia over tbe proliferation of over their halves to the government, which could then open the
cryptography- the science of making and breaking secret "locked" communication.
security codes- once again leads to extreme measures. In this From the government's pers pective, the Clipper chip
electronic age, however, microwave satellite and computer chip seems like a reasonable approach to communications se-
technology have replaced human censors as "big brother." curity: It would make sophisticated cryptographic t~hnol­
The government has always put a very high priority on ogy widely available while preserving the ability of law
cryptography. Advanced technologies- such as super-com· enforcement agencies to execute court-authorized wiretaps.
pulers, semiconductors, fiber opti cs, advanced machine Upon closer examination, however, the plan appears to be the
tools, and cryptography- are key to the U.S. commercial intelligence community 's latest attempt to restrict the de-
competitiveness which has become part of the intelligence velopment and dissemination of effective civilian cryptog-
agenda. With the world increasingly dependent on electronic raphy: The Clipper technology was developed by the
comm unications, cryptography has prol iferated to the National Security Agency (NSA) and the underlying techni·
civilian sector and the intelli g~nce agencies are scramblin g cal data is classified.
to regain control. Their targeting of civilian cryptography has
spawned an unlikely alliance among civil libertarians, com- Civilian vs. Military Technology
puter hackers, and computer software manufacturers con- NSA bas always fought to prevent broad availability of codes
cerned with privacy and/or profits. and ciphers. Modern cryptographic technology- a mathemati·
cal process involving the use of formulas, o r algorithms- was
Target: Civilian Cryptography initially embraced by the government to protect the confiden-
On Aprill6, 1993, President Clinton announced that "govern- tiality of military and dtplomatic communications.
ment eng ineers" had developed a new cryptographic device for Electronic commu nications are now widely us ed in peo-
telephone security called the "Clipper chip" (a chi~ for com- ple's homes and bus inesses, and have become an integral
puter modems called "CAPSTONE" is soon to follow·). Clinton component of the global economy. Computers store and
exchange an ever increasing amount of highl y personal in-
David Sobei&S an atsorney in Wash1ng1on, D.C., wbo specializes in Freedom of
formation, from private correspondence to medical and
lnfoi'Ulation and national securily law. financial data, which can be protected against interception to
t. Jobn Minoz and John Schwanz. "Ouppong Away at PnvacyT' WaJI!mg10n a degree never imagined when the traditional legal notions
Pos~ May 30, 1993, pp. H1,4.
2. DaVId Kahn, The Code-B,..al«rs (Sogntt: New Yo!t. 1967), pp. 27(Hl().
3. Julian Dibbell, "Code Warriors: llatthng Cor the Keys to Privacy in the Info 4. Statement by the Pres.s Secretary. The White Houst, Apnl 16, 1993,
Age," Village Voice, August 3, 1993, p. 35. (hereinafter, White House).

SO CovertAction Number 46
of "search and seizure" were first dev-
eloped. But electronic privacy and secu -
rity can only be guaranteed if encryption
technology is widely available and unen-
cumbered by government regulation.
As an ever increasing flow of non-gov-
ernmental, encrypted data traverses the
global communications networks, even
the tremendous computing power of the
NSA could be overwhelmed. Already,
home computer users can scramble data
with the encryption capabilities of a va-
riety of commercial software programs,
such as Microsoft Windows for Work-
groups and Word, Watchdog, Lotus Notes,
and Norton Utilities. In fact, there are over
1.5 million copies of mass-market pro-
ducts that use sophis ticated crypto-
graphy$ The only way for the government
to stop, or reverse, its prolife ration may be Popular software products which Incorporate sophisticated cryptography are
an outright ban, and the Clipper technol- In the hands of more than 1.5 million computer users.
ogy could be a s tep in that direction.

Voluntary Surveillance kqown quantity of communications- those made on equip-


The government has not yet banned the development or use of ment using the Clipper system. They could then focus their
non-Clifper cryptography, although it has alluded to the pos- tremendous surveillance and deciphering efforts on com-
sibility. Instead, it has made the Clipper plan voluntary to those municat ions which are not made on the government-ap-
willing to give the government their keys. But if, as the ad- proved system and thus are deemed suspect.
ministration claims, the rationale behind the proposal is to
National Security Agency Heritage
The NSA's reputation for excessive secrecy is well-known and
well-deserved. In the years following the Second World War,
Clipper is based upon the highly the making and breaking of secret codes became a top priority
controversial premise that the for the national security establishment 8 Based at Fort Meade,
government has an absolute right to Maryland, NSA was created by President Truman in 1952 and
tasked with primary responsibility for sign als intelligence
obtain the "plaintext" of any (StGINT)- intercepting and deciphering the secret communi-
private communication upon the cations of foreign governments. (NSA's coextensive mission is
issuance of a judicial warrant. to ensure the communications security - COMSEC- of sensi-
tive U.S. government transmissions.) In the 41 years since its
creation, NSA has worked hard to maintain a virtual monopoly
prevent "terrorists, drug dealers, and ot her criminals" from in cryptographic technology within the U.S. The agency 's ef-
7
evading court-approved surveillance, a voluntary program is forts have extended into the area of export and trade policy
absurd. Given the choice between a cryptographic system to where it has stepped on the toes of powerful corporations and
which the U.S. government hold' the keys and another to which pushed them to join with c ivil libertarians in opposition to
it does not, few "criminals" bent on evading detection would restrictions on private encryption.
select the former. Likewise, software manufacturers fear that For export purposes, software programs with encryption
products with Clipper bui lt in will be useless for export. No capabilities are subject to the same controls as software
foreign company will buy a computer security program if the explicitly designed for military purposes. Their export is
U.S. government hold' the passkey. governed by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations
Unless made mandatory, the plan, at best, will give law (ITAR) and administered by the Office of Defense Trade
enforceme nt and intelligence agencies easy access to a Controls at the State Department 9 The !TAR "Munitions
List" (an inventory of products and technologies with pot en-
S. Jim Bidzos, President, RSA D•ua Security, Inc., electronic mail message 10
author, Augustl3, 1993.
6. White How:e, op. cit. 8. See Kahn, op. cit.
7. White House, op. cit. 9. 22 CFR Part• 120-30.

Falll993 CovertAction 51

- -
tial military applications) includes a wide range of commer·
Chipping Away at Privacy cial software with encryption capabilities. 10 Under this export
licensing scheme, NSA is allowed to review license appli·
The Clipper chip proposal is one element in the
Clinton administration's larger plan to oversee the cations for these ~information security technologies" and has
development of new high-tech communication, en- virtual veto power over the issuance of export permits.U
cryption, and Information technologies. The White Angry software industry representatives claim that these
House presents the plan--<lubbed the National Infor- NSA-imposed restrictions on crypto·technology are stifling
mation Infrastructure (NII)-as a way of enhancing innovation, causing U.S. companies to lose out on foreign
personal privacy, aiding law enforcement, and "pro- markets. Economics writer Robert Kuttner noted:
mot[ing) economic growth and the competitiveness of
American industry in the global marketplace." Given Restricting the ability of domestic manufacturers to com-
the context of increased emphasis on economic Intel- mercialize and export new technologies no longer assures
ligence and the heavy-handed involvement of the that advanced technologies will stay out of unfriendly
NSA, the effect may be somewhat dtfferent. Cntics hands: It only diverts the business to Japanese or European
have charged that the Nil's encrytption programs may manufacturers who don't share America's view of tech·
operate to invade personal privacy, circumvent law nological security. 12
enforcement regulations, and extend government spy-
Ing to the private sector. Here are some key ingredi- In addition to export controls, NSA represses crypto-in-
ents of the encryption debate: novation in the name of "national security" under the Inven-
Public Key Cryptography, developed In the tion Secrecy Act. This little-known law, enacted in 1952, the
1970s, is the prototype for many widely available year of NSA's binh, authorizes the Commissioner of Patents
privacy-enhancing programs. The sender encodes a and Trademarks to withhold patents on new inventions and
message using a private key in combination with the
recipient's publicly-known key. After traversing the
electronic wires, the communication can be decrypted
only by the intended recipient using his or her personal
key in combination with the sender's public key.
By some accounts, NSA is capable of
Key Escrow Cryptography. The new government acquiring and automatically scanning
"key escrow" encryption programs, which took the all of the electronic messages that
NSA six years to design, are loosely based on the
public key concept. Two "independent escrow agents" enter, leave, or transit the U.S.
each hold hall a key needed to decrypt a given file.
Any communications made on a key escrow system
(such as Clipper) are automatically channeled, in
to order that they be kept secret indefinitely, "as the national
code, to a government databank which cannot be
interest requires." Violation of a patent secre~y order is
accessed without both escrow keys. Key escrow Is no
punishable by two years' imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. 13
substitute for the security offered by the public key
As a Justice Department representative told a congressional
systems because It gives a third party- the govern-
ment- a passkey. subcommittee in 1980, "What the Invention Secrecy Act
Skipjack is the cryptographic algorithm. or formula, says, in effect, is that there are some inventions that are too
on which key escrow cryptography is based. It is dangerous to be disclosed in the way that a patent normally
classified SECRET by NSA. discloses the invention:· 14
Clipper Chip. In the first phase of the "key escrow· The number of secrecy orders issued under the Invention
encryption policy, AT&T will market telephones con· Secrecy Act remained relatively constant from 1952 until
taining the government's Clipper chip. Communica- 1979, when 3,513 were in place. But by 1986. concurrent
tions from one Clipper unit to another, when recorded, with the explosion of information technology. the number of
will be unintelligible digital noise until decoded. The
program Is tantamount to the government installing a
listening device in people's homes and, with a wink, !0. Fre<l Greguras and John Slack. "The En<f) pHon E:<port Maze: Red Tape,
promising not to eavesdrop without a court order. Requirements, Restncuon5,'' /NFOSecuri()· ProducrNe"-'"S, June: 1992.
II. John A. Adam, "Cr)'J'togmphy • Prtvacy?" IEEE Spectrum, August 1992,
CAPSTONE. The NSA calls its newest "key p. 34 (reprinted statement of NSA).
escrow" chip "big, complex and powerful." CAPSTONE 12. Roben Kunner, "Srook.s and Sc&cncc: An American Dilemma," Washington
was developed for computer modems to track elec· Po.{t, August 20, 1989, p. BS;secatso Robert Kuuner, "How' National Security'
Huns National Compelitiveness,'' IIDrvardBusintss Re•iewt January-February
tronic communications, in much the same way that 1991, p . !40.
Clipper monitors telephone conversations. NSA ex· 13. 35 U.S.C. Sec. t81, t1 uq.
peels it to be commercially available later this year. 14. "The Government's Oassificuion of Pnvatc Ideas," Hcanngs bc!ore 1
Sub<ommittccofthe HoUS<: Committeeon Go>ernrnent Operations, 96th Cong.,
-Carl Deal 2d Scs$. {ltcrcinalier eit<d as "Privott Iekas"). p. 258 (testimoD)' of H. Mtlcs
Foy, Ofli<:cof~gal Counsel. Oepar1ment oflustice, 1980).

52 CovertAction Number46
active orders had reached 4,685.15 These orders, many aimed Clipper Chip Solution
at cryptography and instigated by NSA, 16 have under-
mined the basic function of the patent system: "[to] Clipper Clip
stimulate ideas and the eventual development of fur- Q
.._... ....------..
7
· ·nacant ad vances ·m the an. ··'
th er stgna
In 1987, Congress explicitly sought to counter Secule eu•'IOI'I ...~
:.---:.-..,.....-:..-..:--·:::-_ -~-
...,:-_-___..,.:-_
...:
NSA's intrusion into civilian cryptography by

.,~
assigning oversight authority to the National In-
stitute of Standard~ and Technology (NIST), a
civilian agency within the Commerce Depart-
ment. The Computer Security Act (CSA), osten-
K(')' E ~uuw
sibly removed the impediments to civilian tech- ~ltlldl•fS

nological innovation- e.g., national security


claims, impon-expon and patent controls 1 8 The act
specifically aimed to "greatly restrict" the influence of the
19
military intelligence agencies. The House Report on the
CSA noted that NSA's involvement in the development of Cour1 Uaw ENorctment
civilian computer standards A9fo<y
..ST

could have a chiUing effect on the vigorous research and


development that is ongoing in the academic community and Alternative Technologies Readily Available
the domestic computer industry [whose] rapid technological If passing theCSA was truly an attempt to c lip theNSA's wings,
advances have been due in large pan to being free to openly it has fallen short of that goal. Clipper is not the firs t cryp-
exchange ideas without government interference. NSA's in- tographic product developed by the government for the civilian
herent tendency to ciMSify everything at the highest level is sedor since the act passed. Nor is it the first to be co-opted by
bound to contlid with this broader goal. [Also of concern the NSA. In August 1991, NIST had announced the "digital
was NSA's) natural tendency to restrict and even deny access signature s tandard" (DSS), a method of authenticating
to information that it deems important would disqualify that electronic transmissions, much as a written signature verifies
agency from being put in charge of the protection of non-na- the authenticity or a paper document.23
tional security information in the view of many officials in At first, it seemed the DSS was actually developed by the
the civilian agencies and the private sector.20 civilian NIST. However, when Computer Professionals for
Social Responsibility (CPSR)- a public interest group con-
Finally, in passing the CSA, Congress tried to prevent cerned with technology issues - filed suit under the Freedom
NSA from "us[ing) its considerable foreign intelligence ex- of Information Act, NIST admitted that most of the docu-
pertise within this country," noting that "it ha~. on occasion, ments relevant to the DSS had originated with the National
21
improperly targeted American citizens for surveillance." Security Agency. As a result, NSA publicly acknowledged
This concern echoed the observation of Sen. Frank Church the leading role it played in developing the proposed DSS:
who, during his investigation of the intelligence agencies in
1975, warned that Congress bas a ''particular obligation to [NSA) evaluated and provided candidate algorithms (the
examine the NSA, in light of its tremendous potential for mathematical key on which the standard is based] includ-
abuse.... The danger lit:S in the ability of NSA to turn its ing the one ultimately selected by NIST24
awesome teehnl .
o ogy agamst d omestac
. commumcataons.
. . ,22
Heavily censored documents released in the CPSR lawsuit
strongly suggest that the intelligence agency did more than
15. Gary L. Hau.sken. "The Value of a Secret: Compensmion fur Imposition of just "select"the DSS algorithm, but mandated its adoption as
Secrecy Orders under the lnvcnlion Secrecy ACI..'' 119 Military Law Review a federal standard. 25 The new digital signature standard was
(Winrer t988~ p. 201, fn.IO (446 new orders were is.sued rn t986 compared actually inferior to, and incompatible with, an estabHshed
wilh 293rn 1979).
16. "Privare ld.,..," op. cit., pp. 406-31; Lee Ann Gilben, "Patent So;recy and widely used alternative known as RSA public-key tech-
OrdeB: The Unconstitutionality or Interference in CiviJian Cryptography under nology. Cryptography experts, including those at NIST, had
Present Procedure.~." Soma Clara Law Review, Spnng 1982, p. 325.
17. K~'fln-. Oil Co. v. Bicron Co,p., 416 U.S. 470, 481 (1974). long recognized the superiority of the existi ng RSA technol-
1&. Pubhc Law 100-235 (1987). ogy and its status as the de facio authentication standard.26
19. H. Rep. No. 153 (P•n 2).100th Cong., '" Scss. 7 (1987).
20./bid.' pp 7. 21.
21.1bid., pp (>. 7. 23. 56 Fed Rtg. 42981 (Augu.sr 30. t991).
22. "The Nar10nal Secunry Agero::y and Founh Arrend10001 Righi$, ·• H<anng> Before 24. Unpubtisbed tcner from Michael S. Conn (NSA Chief of Information
lhc Scnare Select Commincc to Study Govcrnmcnl<~ Operation.• wfth Re.<pee~ro Policy) ro Milch R•rcliffe (MocW•ek), Ocrob<r3t, 1991.
ln!clligcnce Acrivilic:o, 94!h Cong.• lSI Sess. 2, Vol. 5, p.2., 1975. (Siaaemenr of 25. Minwes of !he NtST/NSA Te<:hnical Working Group (on file with author).
Sm.Oturdl~ 26. Commcn1.s submiued to NJST by Professor Mart1n E. Hellman, an invemor

Fall1993 CovertActlon 53
Many believe that it is precisely because of its widespread Even if we take the government at its word that it will not
availability and utility that RSA was undermined by NSA in pry without a court order, there are serious implications for
favor of the DSS. Indeed, IEEE Spectrum, a respected com- civil liberties. The National Security Agency, which de·
puter science magazine, has reported that the RSA technique veloped the Clipper technology, shares a long history with
the FBI and CIA of illegal and unauthorized spying on private
had been readied by NIST as the (federal) standard for individuals and organizations. Its ability to monitor com-
several months and was dropped in December 1989 with munications is vast, as is its budget- which is probably the
no alternative in sight. Not until early spring of 1991 did largest of any intelligence agency. By some accounts, NSA
NSA present the algorithm of choice to NlST. Even on is capable of acquiring and automatically scanning all of the
background, sources declined to detail reasons behind the electronic messages that enter, leave or transit the U.S 30
decision, although one mentioned that legitimate national Why then would NSA, after having fought against any
security factors had come into play.27 public use cryptography systems that would interfere with its
SIGINT responsibilities, promote a technology that can only
Another trade magazine reported that following uyears of be broken upon court approval? Suppose, for example, agents
testing and proven reliability, RSA is now used by the majori· of a hostile foreign government purchased Clipper devices in
ty of software makers around the world, including IBM, the U.S. and shipped them abroad. NSA would be unable to
Apple, Lotus, Sun and Microsoft."28 decrypt foreign communications without, itself, first obtain·
ing the two halves of the "escrow'" keys by court order. So
Banning Privacy unlikely is it that NSA would limit its own ability to spy,
While the DSS was designed for the relatively limited purpose when and where it wishes, that many suspect the chip has a
of "signing" electronic messages, the Clipper teclmology ha5 "trap door" to provide the agency with an alternative, extra-
been proposed as the national encryption standard- the very judicial means of entry. 31
heart of the privacy protection that will be built into the nation's
information inuastructure. If Clipper becomes the de facto Another National Security Junkie President
encryption S1andard, the Fourth and Fifth Amendment protcc· With or without a trap door, many observers believe that NSA 's
lions againS1 unreasonable search and seizure, and self-incrimi· efforts to control cryptography will prove futile. As William
nation could be threatened Frezza of Ericsson-G .E. Mobile Data Inc. (an information tech-
On the philosophical level, Clipper is based upon the nology firm) told the IVaslungton Post. "The genie is already
highly controversial premise that 1he government bas an out ofthe bottle. We're all going to look back on this date in
absolute rig.h t to obtain the "plaintex"l" of any private com· five years and laugh that anyone tried to control this techno!·
32
munication on the issuance of a judicial warrant. Such a ogy.'; While the anti-Clipper coalition may succeed and shut
principle, if accepted, would mean that the only right to down the current proposal, the issues that Clipper raised will
privacy citizens enjoyed would be in face-to-face communi- remain. If civil libertarians are not fortunate enough to have the
cations. As cryptographer Whitfield Diffie !old Co ngress: coincidental support of corporations in opposition to the next
computer-age attack on privacy, as they do against Clipper, the
No right of private conversation was enumerated in the electronic censors could easi Iy prevail.
Constitution. I don't suppose it occurred to anyone at the Meanwhile, the national security establishment seems to
time that il could be prevented. Now, however, we are on have won over yet another president to its belief that cryp-
the verge of a world in which electronic communication is tography is a commodity that should be controlled by the
both so good and so inexpensive that imimate busines.~ and government. Just as the Cold War sustained NSA's tech-
personal relationships will flourish between part1es who nological monopoly for 40 years, the specter of what PreSI-
can at mo~i occasionally afford the luxury of traveling 10 dent Clinton described as "terrorists, drug dealers, and other
visit each other. Ifwedo not accept the right of these people criminals" is providing a basis for the Agency's mb'IOn into
to protect the privacy of their communication, we take a the next century. •
long step in the direction of a world in which privacy will
29
belong only to the rich
30. David Bum ham, The Rise oftht Comp4~ter S1a1~ (Sev. York: Random House.
1980),p.I26.See generally Jam<.• Bmnford. The Puzzle Poloc:e(Boslon: Hough1on
Mifflin, 1982): '"The Nalionat Socuruy Agency and Fourth Amcndmcnl RighL<,"
of ·•publlc·kcy" cryplogrophy, dalcd Novcmb<r 12, 1991. reprinlcd in Com· op. cit.; "Big Brother 1980 • The No11onnl Security Agency: The Bigge~l
mu•icotion.r of rite ACAf, July 1992, pp. 47-49. See also, Olmmcftls submiucd Eavesdropper or Them All - . CAIB lnlCI\'ICW."' Co•~rtAction, Number II,
10 NISTby FlliCher Jnlemational SySicnu Corp., dalcd Novcmb<r 26. 1991; and December 1980, pp. 35·43.
Memorandum from Roy Saltman to Lynn McNulty daltd De<:<.1nber 22, 1989 31. NSA's Director or Po he)!, M1chtiel A. Smith, claim$ "unequivocally there
(tntemal NJST document on file with. author). is no trap door buill into the algorilhm. A Irap door would be a vulnerabthty 10
27. Adam.op. cir., p. 29. the system. and owould dcfcalthc pu~c ofassunng the system provides U.S.
28. ·'Dtblling Enayptioo Slandards,•• c.mm.u.iauioru oftiooA CM, July 1992. p. 34. cirizem with exullt'nt seeun1y." The cautiOUS reader, however, should quesrion
29. '"The Impact of a Seen:~ QypoogJOplu<: Sland:vd on Encryption, Pnvocy, Smith's reference to "U.S. cuaens.. and wonder if ··excellent security'' ts
Law Enfonxmc:nland T<dlnology,"Testimony of Whllfotld Diffie:, Sun Micn>- analogous 10 unbreakable secur11y. John Markoff, "U.S. as B1g Brolher or
systc.ms, befon: the Science Subcommiueeofthe HouseComrmucc on Se•c.nce, Ol~u1er Age.," ,v.,...yon- Timu, May 6, 1993, pp. Dl. 07.
Space and Technology, May It, 1993. 32./>iullz and Schwanz, op. cit., 11 p. H4.

54 CovertActlon Number46
The CIA: Banking on Intelligence
Anthony L. Kimery

The CIA has collected, and the intelligence


community has collected, economic intelligence of
one kind or another since its inception.
- Director of Central Intelligence, R. James Woolsel

T he CIA has never been above breaking the law as it battles


communists, nationalists, terrorists, or the latest "national
security threat": foreign-directed economic and financial sub·
practice. Thus, it should be no surprise that, desptte ques·
tionable legality, both the National Security Agency (NSA)
and the CIA already engage in extensive economic intel·
terfuge. This growing economic focus comes at the bidding of ligence activities wherever U.S. nat ional security interests
many voices in the CIA, Pentagon, and corporate community are perceived to be at risk.
who believe the U.S.'s primary intelligence mission should be The practice of using existing U.S. intelligence agencies
to help industry compete in the global marketplace. There has to gather economic and financial data through traditional spy
been little public discussion, however, over just when corporate methods was given a boost by the Reagan adminiS1ration.
competition becomes a sufficient threat to the national security Incoming CIA Director William Casey's national security
to unleash the corruptible talents of the intelligence community credentials were matched by his business background Casey
into the world of international finance. had been chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission,
Undersecretary of State for economic affairs, and Import-Ex·
" New" Intelligence Requi rements: Old Practices port Bank President. He ordered the Agency's once modest
That line between "national security" and private financial National Collection Division (NCO) to recruit major cor-
interests has long been mutable and subject to the day-to-day porate executives abroad to gather proprietary information
needs of the CIA. For decades, the U.S. has used currency on foreign businesses and the trade and economic policies of
manipulations, embargoes, and other forms of economic foreign governments. 2 This move made the NCO tbe largest
pressure to undermine its foes. When the 1945 Bretton Woods information gathering program within the Agency's opera·
agreement established the U.S. dollar as the international lions directorate. By 1984, more than 150 corporations were
currency of the World Bank and International Monetary providing cover for CIA people overseas. 3
Fund, the U.S. secured enormous international financial lev· Also on Casey's order, from 1982 through 1987, career
erage. It can direct intense fiscal pressure against foreign CIA man Douglas P. Mulholland served at the Treasury
financial institut ions, and even an entire national economy, Department as the chief liaison to the Agency. 4 The person
by activating the global power of the Treasury Department in this position typically ensures that, should some low- level
and the Federal Reserve (along with the international fin an· regulator stumble across banking law violations, CIA opera·
cia! institutions it controls). Witness the long-standing em· tions involving banks and other federally regulated financial
bargo against Cuba, the economic sabotage of Nicaragua in institutions are not compromised. 5 No operations, it seems,
the 1980s, the illegal withholding of Panama's canal rev- were compromised on Mulholland's watch. He retired from
enues between 1987 and 1990, and the current international
sanctions against Iraq. Economic motives have always driven 2. Based on author 's 1nterv1ew with forme-. scruor CIA orriccr wnh 6rSihand
U.S. covert operations. And bending banking regulation; to inrormation about thts prog.rnm; sec Mark Perry, Eclipse: The Llt:Jt Days of the
CIA (New York: Wilham Morrow,l993).pp. 194-205. 1n the 1970., Casey had
the benefit of U.S. and foreign elites has been standard been appointed by Oc:rald For..! to serve on the President 's Foreign lnlclligcncc
Advisor)' Board where he worked with Uonel Olmer. Reagan went on to appoint
Olmertoserve as the Commerce Department's Undei"$CCfCtory ror International
Anthony L. K.tmel)' is an associate cdnor at American Banker Newslcncn, Trade. As. a result. the Commerce Department was able co provide cover abroad
where he specializes in bank:1ng rcgulalions and supervision. The past Wa.~h· for some: of the new CIA Duwor's case offioer>. "'Bu.~inessmen and Deep
ington Bureau Chief of Money Lountkring Alert., his investigative work has Cover,"Ccrn<TIAction, Number 14·15, Oclobcr 1981, p. 14.
appeared •• many newspapers and magalln<S and has been cued Wl<kty. 3. Perry, op. cit., pp. 196·97.
(Etlaor•s note: This article dratt.'$ on claJSI{ted U.S. go-..~rnmt~~l documtnts 4. 1M BCCJ Affair: A Rrport "' 1M ~lttlt~ Commi11u on Foreign Relotions
.,.IJich lite author matk D\.'Oilablt 10 CAQ for -..-rrifrcation..J (bcn:af\er SenQI< R<pon). September 30. 1992. Volume One:. p. 37$ .
I. Conlirmalion heMng, SemJc: Sctca Convroutc:on h<elligence. Febtuary2, 1993. S.lbid

Fall1993 CovertAction 55
the CIA in 1987 to become Cont r a probe. Under
a researcher for George Bruh 's leadership. FinCEN
Bush's presidential cam- is expanding its capabili·
paign, and later beaded the ties. Los Alamos National
State Department's Bureau Laboratory, on contract to
of Intelligence and Re- FinCEN, is developing "ar-
search.6 tificial intelligence" capa-
ble of isolating specific
Treasury Joins the financial activity within
Inner Circle the millions of filings it has
While the Reagan and Bush on computer. 10 Though
administrations were able technical! y a law enforce-
to maintain the CIA's bud- ment tool , this new soft·
get in the name of anticom - ware could easily be used
munism, the post-Cold War to spy on virtually any-
CIA bas had to be more di- body's personal or busi-
verse. It has switched its ness financial transfers.
emphasis to counterterror-
ism and economic intelli • Privacy and
7
gence. Computerized Tracking
Bill Clinton wasted no While the development of
time in elevating the "new" computer program s t o
economic agenda to the track financial transactions
highest level. For the first has opened a Pandora's box
time, a treasury secretary, where civil liberties are con-
Lloyd Bentsen, became a cerned, barely a ripple of of-
OoportmonC ot State
member of the CIA's daily ficia l pr o test has been
From 1982 to 1987, career CIA man Douglas P. Mulholland served
White House briefing. Pre- logged. In 1991, Congress
at the Treasury Department as chief liaison to the Agency.
viously, the briefing was re· mandated an FDIC study of
served only for the presi- how to apply a computer-
dent, the vice president, the national security adviser, and the ized tracking system of insured and uninsured deposits to law
8
secretaries of state and defense. This move formalized a trend enforcement. t t According to the latest draft of the FDIC's report
put in motion by Reagan and Bush, who had already brought to Congress, a tracking system could reveal "an individual 's
the Department of tbe Treasury's intelligence unit and the entire banking history." The FDIC cautions, however, that
CIA closer together.
Reagan had created a new agency at Treasury, the Finan- because the sweep of a tracking system would encompass
cial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), with liaisons all bank depositors - those who are law-abiding as well
to the NSA, CIA, and the Defense Intelligence Agency as those who are not - each increment by which the
(DIA). FinCEN compiles and analyzes the computerized system would aid in the administration of justice could
financial disclosure data that banks are required to report to incrementally infringe on personal privacy by an equi·
regulators under the Bank Secrecy Act and related money valent amount. 12
laundering laws. Its capabilities are staggering. For instance,
when federal agents wanted to analyze patterns of cash de- While the FDIC opposes such a tracking system. it faces
posits in New York City as part of a drug investigation, stiff opposition from the Departments of Ju sti ce and Trea-
FinCEN's computers quickly isolated a single cash-rich sury, the CIA, and other agencies that will lobby hard for
9
neighborhood in Manhattan . Its current director, Brian M. access to private financial data. 13
Bruh, is a former deputy assistant commissioner of criminal
investigations at the IRS and served as chief investigator for BCCI: A Wi ndow on the Future
the Tower Commission, President Reagan's official Iran · The CIA's largest banking fiasco- with the Bank of Credit
and Commerce International (BCCI)- hint s at how the in-
6./bid, Pan tt, pp. 368-79. telligence agencies will handle their expanded economic
7. Although the c.aa figure ts classtfied, a congJ<SSional source with firsthand
knowledge says that economic 1ntclha~nce accounts for 111 •mponanl percen1·
age of the incn:ased budget Ointon has prop<»ed forth< OA. 10. Author's lnlc:MCW with FmCEN official, t993.
8. Douglas Jeht,"It Takes a Good Host to Run a Spy Agency," New York Times, 11. Federal Deposit tMIIflUIIX Co<pomtion Improvement Act (FDIOA) of 1991.
April 5, 1993. 12. Draft R~pon to the Congress on the Costs, Feasiln'lity, tJnd Privacy lmplica·
9. William C. Rempe~ ''Taking the Cunei to the Oeane,," Los Angeles 1lmes, tiotr$ ofTrackbrg Deposits, FDIC, June 1993.
Wa<hingtoo Edition, July7,1993;and author's mtcrvlcwwith FinCENofticia~ 1993. 13. Author's incervtcws with congressional sources, 191)3.

56 CovertActlon Number46
mandale. It is no longer a secrel thai U.S. intell igence agen- Sen. Gordon Humphrey (R-N.H.) - offered BCCI"s crimi-
4
cies used BCCI extensively for covert operations} BCCI's nal defense learn advice on handling lhe Senale Foreign
CIA ties have sparked speculation I hat the Agency was one Relations Commlllee's inquiries. 19 In addition, Pillsbury as-
15
of lhe bank's original sponsors. sisted Karna Small of Hill and Knowllon- the major public
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's comprehen- relations firm represenling BCCI -10 counler lhe "unfair
sive report on the BCCI scandal leaves lhe impression that lreatment " of BCCI by 1he comminee.20 Small also has a
Casey's man in Treasury, Mulholland, in spite of his evasive background with the coverl ini tiatives of the Reagan ad-
answers to the commiuee's questions, knew when violations ministration. During lhe mid-1980s, she had been press
were made by BCCI and did not report them. This is espe- spokesperson for the Nati onal Securitr Council and National
cially evident in the case of BCCI's illegall980 takeover of Security Adviser Roben McFarlane. 2
First American Bank, the largest holding company in the The extenl of I he CIA's use of First American, an institu-
metropolitan Washinglon area. All CIAintelligenceon BCCI lion led by Democralic Party power brokers Robert Allman
and lhe takeover was routed through Mulholland who, pre- and Clark Clifford, was a particular!} sensitive item during
16
dictably, took no aclion. I he congressional inquiry. The CIA's official use of 1hc bank
Once the bank scandal became public, lhe report reveals, - independent of Agency ties to BCCI-
BCCI was counseled by individuals well-connecled to the was described as "exlensive" in the Senate
intelligence establishment, including Michael Pillsbury report When it came lime 10 publicly dis-
and Karna Small. Pillsbury is a long-lime Senate close BCCI"s ilJjcil takeover of the bank.
slaffer with insider clout in the intelligence however, the intelligence agencies
communily. lie served as an Assistanl scrambled to cover it up.22 The CIA,
Secretary of Defense under NSC, and other intelligence agen-
Presidenl Ronald Reagan, cies, when presented wilh requests
and was a member from commillee chair Sen. John
of the 208 Com mil- Kerry (0-Mass.) for records on
lu, a top-secret in- Noriega , refused to comply.
teragency group that ~ The agencies feared that, if
oversaw CIA covert op- N ~\ lbe records were divulged,
eration~ and met in Room ~1. \) (..'t ...o. c.,~~ too many queslions would
208 of the Old Execulive ("~\ ~ '\~ "'_, be raised about the CIA's
Office Building adjacenl IO ~ \.~\.' ¢-<$;-'V ~S> ties to First American .Z3
' - ~~ K~'-
11
the White House. As a member (.,;.-.
of I hal group, Pillsbury con- ~\ ~@ ~'{ Evidence Shredded by the Fed
cedes, he helped provide military ~ # ~~~ The seriousness of government complicity wilh
assistance to I he CIA-backed Afghan -¢'->\.~ cO
shady banks increases when agencies move, as lhey
rebels, an operation for which BCCI frequentl y do, lo cover up such corruplion. According to
was used extensively. Reagan fired him insider sources, Federal Reserve Board (Fed) files revealing
in 1986 for leaking word lhat the ad- BCCI's relationship to the CIA and NSC were shredded in
ministration had decided to provide Sting- 1988 and 1990.24
18
er antiai rcraft missil e;, to rebels in Afghanistan and Angola. While the Fed has consistent!}' claimed thai it received
During 1989 and I 990, as BCCI faced a federal indiclment lillie inlelligence aboul BCCl, the Senate's BCCI reporl
on money launderi ng charges, Pillsbury -then an aide to reveals that intelligence reports- some originating with the

14. For an official govanmcnt position on !he r<:lationship, see ~nor< Repon. 19. 1bid.
Volume One. pp. 368-416. 20. Letter from Pillsbury 10 Srroll. Jan~ry II, 1990 (Exhibit 1136 to Senar<
IS. Peter True! l and Larry Ourwin. "False ProCirs: The Inside Story of BCCI, ReJX>rt); see Johan Clrhs1e, .. Public Relationships: H1U & Knowlton. Roben
The World's Moot Corrupt Financoal Empire," New>w~<k, December 7, 1992, Onty, and the (]A," Co•·errAction Qwmuly. Number44 (Spring !993), pp. 23·24.
pp. 44-49; and Laws Wolf, ""&nit Madelust forrhc (]A," CA/8, Falll991, p. 66. 21. Senare Reporr, Volume: T"o, pp. 654-SS.
16. Senate Reporr. Volume One, pp. 368-416. Somilarly, regulators were kept 22. Among Fusr Amcncan's activities was us handling of wire transftrs from
In the dark about Abdui-Raour Klullil. Saudi Arabia's liaison to the CIA. Khalil BCCI's Iron OJntra acc.ount~ into an account for Ulke Resources, the company
"as a BCCf shan:holde'f, front man. and a key norruncc in BCCJ's secret sci up by principal Iran-Contra players OUver North and Richard S..:Oro to
t.&keovcr of First Amcncan. Khalil's CIA ties prompted intclhgenccagcncies 10 fi11.1nceamu tothecon1ras. (Ibid. pp. 371-72, 397-98.) First American also held
stonewall regulators' requests ror inrormat10n about him. When regulator$ accounts ror Manuel Noriega, who had long been on the. CIA•s payroll. (n
asked the State Department to locate Khaltl in 1991 so he could be served with Washington, BCCI'~ hnndtingofNoric:ga's assets went through First American.
legal dOeuments, they were told be eouJd not be located...After some: months,·· (Ibid.. Volum< Two, p. 636.)
the repcln states, "the rcguh'UOD deternuncd th:lt Khalil was (n:quently round m 23. Aulhor's tntcrvi~·s w1th intell•genccsourcc::s; alsoDrugs.I.AwEn/tNc~mnu
lhcoffice.s of the CIAstalion ch.icfinSoudi Arabia. Upon makingthi" suggestion ami Foreign Poli''Y· a report by the Senotc Foreign Rtlouons Committee
to !he Slate Dcpanment,the regulators found that scrvi<:eofthelegal documents Subc.ommincc on Terrorism. Narcotics and loLernauonaJ Operations. Septem-
on Klullol was qu•ckly arranged." (Ibid. pp. 384-8$.) ber 1989, pp. 97-112
11.1bitl., Volume Two, pp. 640-59. 24. The sources include;_' FederaJ Reserved aLa managcmenLspcclalisr, a former
18. Laurence Zuckerman, "Washington's Master Leakcrs." Tim~. May 23, State Depanrnent officer with acce..\5 10 chLSsified lnfonnatton, and two former
1988, pp.17-18. salor CA ollle<n a<si&Jled to inlelligerv::e-pheri111l opcr,.;ons that involved BCa

Faii199J CovtrtActlon 57
CIA- were indeed shared with Fed officers. 25 Investigators On June 12, 1986, Maxwell spent four hours with four
for the House Banking Committee posit that the Fed took no Treasury Department officials in the International Banking
action against BCCI because the CIA and NSC were worried and Finance Division of the O([ice of the Comptroller of the
that covert operations would be exposed 26 Currency (OCC) in Washing1on. They discussed Maxwell's
The Fed's records manager acknowledges that CIA files on allegation that the bank transferred millions of dollars in CIA
BCCJ "mysteriously" disappeared in September 1988 after funds to foreign bank accounts.32 Maxwell also told the OCC
Sen. Kerry 's subcommittee heard Amj ad Awan, ex-manager that he believed the transfers were not properly reported and
ofBCCI's branch in Panama, testify that bank officials laun- that some of the money was diverted to buy arms for the
dered drug profits for Manuel Noriega. The same official also Nicaraguan Contra rebels. The balance, he says, ended up in
alleges that in 1990, someone at the Fed again destroyed and Swiss and Panamanian bank accounts. This meeting occurred
concealed documents on BCCI as the first stories about the four months before the White House's secret support of the
bank's impending collapse bit the newsstands. 27 Contras became public.
Gustave Newman, Robert Altman's attorney, offers addi- The OCC agents who debriefed Maxwell subsequently
tional allegations of a Fed coverup. He claims that on March met with Mulholland. 33 No enforcement action was taken
30, 1993, a week before the Justice Department dropped key against the bank. The OCC did later open an invest igation,
charges against Altman and Clark Clifford, Fed officials still ongoing, into FNB's relationship with ATC. 34
shredded evidence concerning First American's sale to BCCJ. While the Treasury Department ignored, even covered up,
Additional documents in the possession of a senior Fed alleged violations involving the ATC account, it simul-
official were either withheld, or "vanished into thin air...28 taneously fined FNB nearly $1 million for numerous other
currency transaction reporting violations under the Bank
A Pattern of Abuse Secrecy Act. 35
The BCCI-First American scandal is on ly the best-known
case of the CIA's use of banks to finance secret operations. 29 Is the CIA Exempt from Banking Regulations?
Four years before BCC1 was exposed, a Baltimore banker, The U.S. government's demonstrated ability to use economic
Robert Maxwell, blew the whislle on his employer. Maxwell intelligence and currency manipulations to control its
claimed that in 1986, at the behest of the CIA, the First enemies, and to violate banking regulations with few, if any,
National Bank of Maryland (FNB) violated laws. The opera- consequences raises the que;tion of legal regulation. Without
tion unraveled when Maxwell filed suit against FNB and the oversight or enforcement, banking regulators can turn a blind
CIA in 1990. He charged that he was forced to quit as FNB's eye to violations of banking laws when a transaction involves
manager of international letters of credit when he questioned tbe CIA or some other intelli gence agency and throw the
the legality of work he was asked to do for a bank account in fundamentals of regulation out the window. Moreover, if a
the name of Associated Traders Corporation (ATC).30 ATC, bank is allowed to break laws in the name of national security,
he alleged, was actually a CIA front used to finance covert what will deter that same bank - now an intelligence asset
operations. When Maxwell's attorney sought to obtain the -from violating other regulations with the impunity offered
bank's records on the company, the CIA filed for a protective by that shield?
order, claiming disclosure would damage national security. The pattern is well -established in cases such as BCCI and
In April 1992, a federal court ~anted the motion, allowing FNB; Intelligence agencies and their operatives will invoke
the CIA's role to remain secret. 1 national security claims to avoid public scrutiny and to dodge
criminal prosecution. The Bank Secrecy Act required First
and italy's BNL. anolher bank embroiled in fll/c1l activities involving the CIA. American and FNB to file currency and suspicious transac·
25. Smore Repcn. Volume One, pp. 368-416. tion reports, and possible criminal activity forms in the mat-
26. Author's interviews with House Banking Committee staff members, 1992. ter of Noriega's money laundering as well as their handling
27. Author's interview, 1991.
28. Author's interview with Newman,1993; and Sharon Walsh, "BCCI Defense of Iran-Contra-related transactions. If they did file these
Says Fed Lied," Woshingtqn Pos~ August S, 1993. The existence of the forms, the regulators ignored them.
mtcUigenoeoperadon involving tbe lwo banks is funhcr established in elassd'ied
aA docwnenlS shown to the author. Tbe documentS State thal abe CIA and The near immunity to pro~ecution enJO~ed b~ the tntcl-
8ri1ish inlelligenoc •"wcrc detply involved." ligence community is partly a matter of shpptng through
29. aA C()MCCUons 10 rwo railed Hong Kon& blnJcs an: detailed Ill ~nair legal loopholes which discourage enforcement. A key loop-
Rtport, Volume One, Pan 11. The "prime mover" oftltecn:ationofHong Kong
Deposit and Guaranty Co. and Tetra Finance In 198! was the late John M. hole in I he Bank Secrecy Act of 19"0- amended in 1986 -
ShRbeen, a former Navy captain who had wor1ccd in the OSS under Casey.
Fonned within days or Ct.sey's selection A$ dlrc•1or of the CIA. the banks' 32. Author's mlcrvicv.• with Maxwell, L992.
director.; had close, ongoing tics to the CIA, Saudi intelligence and BCCI. Not 33. Senate Report Volume One, pp. 368-416.
only did a key sea official assume a direetn<>hip olthe two banks at thecxael 34. Treasury Depanmenl's response to a Freedom of Jnformation Acl reqot$t
time be assut.ned a£imalardueccorsbiporBCCI, bulthc 1wo banks made use or filed by 1he au1hor One of the banks to whicb Maxwell 3-ays he re:mcmbc.rcd
tbc identical suuCiures for domg business that BCCl adopted. making aSS rrulhon transfe::r from ATC's account was I he Panamantan branch
30. See Rdlc<:ca Soms, "Ope'""'..,. and S&u: The OA and Fmnr:illl tnstotu· of a bank in which Noncga reportedly h.ad hidden mdhons of dollaa Aulbor's
tiom, • Cmerlll<liOII, Nwnbcr 3S {Fall 1990). pp . 44-45; and P:uriclc Ki&"'· Jr. mraview, 1992.
''The Banker, the Guns. and the CIA." BolamtNt Magazine, Augu<t 1990. 35. 1imo~hy J. Muttaney, "l.st National Bonk Fined $950,000 by Tr<::tSury;
31. Order o!Wittiam M. Nocktllion, U.S. District JudgelortheDistrictofMarytand Baltimore Sun, March 4, 1992. p. Bl; Treasury Department Office or Fi nanetal
ln Robm J . MtiXwellv. Fir.st Notionol Bank ofMaryland,« ol., April29, 1992. Enforcement prc5..~ release.

58 CovertAclion Number46

J
allows Treasury to grant exceptions to the identification, (Nice Guys, continued from p. 8)
reporting, and record keeping requiremen'ts of the act based
on the following presumption: "Federal officers frequently Woolsey need only remind himself of the CIA's early
conduct large currency transactions to help fund certain un· director, Allen Dulles. who came from a successful career as
dercover operations, and because Treasu~ understands these a Wall Street lawyer. His firm , Sullivan & Cromwell, held
3
officers' need to protect their identity. " seats on the board of directors of United Fruit, among others.
The firm virtually created the Republic of Pa nama at the turn
A Telling Legacy of the century, and influenced policy in Latin America ever
The historical precedents for making economics the center· since.
piece of U.S. intelligence bode ill. The intelligence com· When a liberal government in Guatemala threatened to
munity bas long maintained cozy relationships with both the redistribute United Fruit's uncultivated lands to the starving
ban king and financial community and their federal peasantry in 1954, the company made a few phone calls. The
regulators. They have cooperated not only to hide funds for Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, and his brother put
intelligence operations, but to use banking institutions to together the CIA's first and most successful military coup
collect private data on customers. Equally disturbing are the d'etat. Old hands at Langley still tout the "Guat op" as a
recurring allegations- some backed by substantive model for successfu l counterinsurgency: Minimum resources
evidence - that the CIA and its contractors have looted U.S. expended for maximum results. What they don't mention is
and foreign-based banks, and diverted some of the booty that, in direct consequence, at least 100,000 Guatemalans ,
specifically for covert operations witli neither congressional mostly indigenous, have been slaughtered by successive
nor presidential authorization.37 This legacy has been built U.S.-backed military dictatorships.
over many years on a culture of secrecy and bolstered by lax The world - and the CIA - have indeed changed
oversight and legal loopholes which remain in place. Wi th since then, but not necessarily for the better. T he main
the Clinton administration firmly in their camp, the intel· difference is that extension of superpower content ion into
ligence agencies and big business look forward to a future remote backwaters of the international economy no longer
where they can dominate competitors and rivals, even whole can be supported by an anticommunist rationale. Whether
governments, without firing a single bullet. • "economic security" includes industrial espionage, there·
fore, is a red herring. The rationale - they're doing it to
36. Tre~ury Depanment Memorandum lcUeD from the Director, Office of us, so we have to do it to them - is an echo of the reflexive
Financial Enforcement, April 22, 1992, February 27,1991.
justification of U.S. interventio n as "self-defense" against
37. From the earliest to the most recent accounts of the CIA's involvement in
the establishment of banks to fund covert activities. see Jonathan Kwitny, Th~ Soviet "aggression," and with the same goal: To provide a
Crimes of Patriots (New York: Norton, 1987). and Pete Brewton, The Mafia, pretext for otherwise inexcusable acts of piracy, theft and
CIA & George Bush (New York: SPI Book<, 1992); also Fred Dexter, "Oil
Money, BCCI, and the CIA,'' CowrtAction) Number 39, pp. 46-48. murder. •

Ex-CIA Man Turned Critic Seeks Presidential Pardon

Verne Lyon said years ago that be worked for the CIA airport bombing charge. Railroaded through the courts and
from 1965 to 1975, first as a campus informant spying on convicted, he was sentenced to 17 years. After six years in
antiwar activists at Iowa State University, then as an agent Leavenworth Penitentiary, he was granted parole.
in Cuba. He was accused of planting a pipe bomb at the St. Since then, he has directed the humanitarian work of the
Louis International Airport in December 1966, an incident Des Moines Hispanic Ministry, a project of the United
the CIA hoped would create a cover for him as an antiwar Methodist Church in Iowa, that provides food, shelter, and
activist. According to Lyon, he slowly convinced Cuban counselling for documented and undocu mented Central
authorities of his bonafides, and eventually spent six years American and Mexican workers. An officer of the Associa·
in Havana working in a rainfall project (cloud seeding) to tion of National Security Alumni, he lectures on the abuses
boost agricultural production. He also reported to the CIA of U.S. intelligence and the national security establishment.
on East Bloc scientific aid to Cuba. In 1970, in violation of He has written for CovertAction about campus spying in the
CIA instructions, he married a Cuban woman. CIA's Operation CHAOS.
In 1975, the Cuban government expelled Lyon, and from In April 1993, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad restored
Canada he sought unsuccessfully to have his wife join him. Lyon's state citizenship rights, and be is now seeking a
The CIA twice tried to kidnap him and then convinced the presidential pardon and restoration of his full rights as a
Canadians to expel him. In 1977, with assistance from U.S. citizen. Letters to President Clinton in support of
Peruvian authorities, the U.S. brought him from Lima to St. Lyon's pardon shou ld be sent: c/o Diane Kuntz, 3303 Sir
Louis for a much-publicized trial in the CIA-concocted Thomas Drive, #42, Silver Spring, MD 20904.

Fall 1993 CovertAction 59


(lsrad, continued/romp. 13)
the Gulf War- is now considered the most threatening.
Aharonson recognizes that
Smart Weapons I Neutron Bombs
Israel cannot - in accordance with AJlon's doctrine of
In the debate over an optimum mix of weapons, preemptive first strike- mobilize its entire army and
dispatch it to fight a ground war in Iran. Likewise, the
Sam Cohen, American inventor of the neutron bomb
[Israeli) Air Force is not capable of seriously devastating
and critic of reliance on "smart" weapons, refers
Tehran using only conventional air raids. After all, this
back to the "Goering strategy"-the German bomb·
large, several millions-strong city withstood Iraqi air raids
lng of London with long-range missiles. Then, as during the eight long years of war, without any significant
now, the price-tag for "smart" weaponry outweighs anti-air defenses. It must also be remembered that Israel
the rather marginal damage wrought. The efficiency found no real answer to the grievous blows dealt by the
of a modern "smart" weapons strategy is especially Iraqi Scuds during the Gulf War. 11
undermined by the availability of cheap and plentiful
dummy targets capable of deceiving sophisticated Aharonson is not alone in emphasizing the Iranian threat.
missile technology. As offense and defense leapfrog Yo'av Kaspi , chief political correspondent of AI Hamish mar,
each other, the dummy targets, of course, are iden- reiterates the difficulty of expunging Iran's nuclear capa-
tified and countered by escalating technology at bility. In his article, "Iran needs to be treated just as Iraq had
ever-mounting cost. The bottom line, contends been," he interviews Daniel L<:sham, "a retired senior officer
Cohen, is: The Iranians and Arabs have much more in the [Israeli) military intelligence, and currently a member
money than lsrael.
1 oft he Center for Strategic Studies at the Tel Aviv University."
Lesham, who has helped form Israeli strategy, notes that the
Rather than rely on "smart" technology, Aharon -
Allied air raids did little in and of themselves to destroy Iraq's
son advocates more cost-effective weapons such
military and especially nuclear capabilities. Rather, the vic-
as Cohen's neutron bomb ''which don't produce
tory they secured allowed U.N. observers to go in and finish
inordinately high temperatures and don't leave du- the job. Drawing a parallel. L<:sbam concludes:
rable radioactive waste, but which are capable of
killing enemy soldiers in their tanks in a small tar- The State of Israel alone can do very little to hall the
geted area. Our use of such weapons will demon- Iranians. We could raid Iran from the air. but we cannot
strate to anyone concerned the firmness of our realistically expect that our aerial operations could destroy
resolve to defend ourselves no matter what weap- all their capabilities. At best, some Iranian nuclear instal-
ons we possess, without running short of them all lations could in this way be destroyed. But we couldn't
in the process." The implication Is that by using possibly thus reach them all -not even their major cen-
"radiation bombs," Israel would also signal its will- ters of nuclear development- especially since that de-
Ingness to eventually use much more destructive velopment has proceeded along three different lines in a
nuclear bombs. The main drawback to "radiation fairly decentralized manner, with installations and fac-
bombs," Aharonson laments, is that "The Americans tories scattered widely across the country. It is reasonable
wi ll never agree to it."
2 to suppose that we will never know the locations of all their
installations, just as we didn't know it in Iraq's case. 12
I. Shlomo Gazu, Yediot AhrontH, April27, 199'2.
2. Yo'w Kaop1. "Houm,"A!Hamishmar(FndayS..,P..,.ro~May21,1993. Abaronson no doubt took these factors into consideration
when he concluded that "against its faraway enemies. Israel
will have to rely, not so much on the conventional com-
The army's old strategic doctrine was overhauled in 1987 ponents of the Israeli army. as on other components of its
after "recommendations of a committee chaired by then Jus- national security: namely on nuclear deterrence, long-range
lice minister, [Dan] Meridor [Likud]." 10 Its implementation missiles. and improved cooperation wllh the U.S. and neigh-
by the army, slowed first by the Intifada, was given a boost boring states, such as Egypt or Turkey... Aharonson and his
soon after the 1991 Gulf War. The revised doctrine, a5 inter- peers do notlimitthe possible use of Israeli nuclear weapons
preted by Aharonson, ranks threats to Israeli national security to Iran alone, but consider Syria and Syria's allies as other
largely by geographical proximity. The faraway enemies potential targets. How to deal with these "close enemies" is
include Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Algeria. Among these groups, part of a debate on whether Israel should continue to count
whose threat is seen as somewhat less than that posed by on traditional masses of armor, increase emphasis on "smart
bordering states, Iran- which got weapons from Israel until weapons," or deploy radiation or nuclear bombs (see box).

11. Ibid.
10. Alur Ben, op. cit. 12 Yo'av'KaspJ,A!HomiJirmar, Fcbnwy 19.1993.

60 CovertAction Number46

I
Building Coalitions Against Iran Turning Nuclearizatlon to Political Advantage
Whatever military strategy it finally settles on, clearly Israel Nuclear proliferation is an important factor in the formatio n
-in various degrees of coalition with the U.S. and Egypt- of coalitions around the Middle East. The fear of nucleariza·
is exploring the means to destabilize Iran and neutralize the tion, however, may actually be less important militarily and
threat of its nuclear program . The Egyptian press has reported more important politically than first appears. The current
"the crystallization of a current Israeli-Egyptian plan to over- Chief of Staff, Ehud Barak. advocated anti-Iran coalition
throw the Iranian regime with U.S. support."13 According to building in 1984-85 when he served as the Military Intel-
Menashe Amir, director of Israeli Farsi-language radio ligence commander in the final stages of the Lebanon War -
broadcasts to Iran, "there is some truth in such reports." Am ir, before it was expected that Iran would nuclearize. This early
however, warns that any U.S. plans to forcibly overthrow the emphasis on weakening relatively strong Middle East states
Iranian regime are suggests that Israel's overarching goal was not simply to
prevent nuclearization . Rather, Sneh. like Aharonson, con-
pretty unfeasible, even if the U.S. is s upported in this tends that the coalition strategy was designed 10 enhance
seheme by several states in the Middle East which, like Israel's hegemonic control over the region and to use the
Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have their reasons to feel threat- "peace process" as a tool in the Israeli grand strategy of
ened by Tehran. Nevertheless, the chance of seeing this war-making. Thus, Barak shares common ground with the
regime overthrown in the foreseeable future by forces from government doves: a comm itment to cooperating closely
within- although not particularly high either - does with the U.S. and to advancing the peace process. Aharonson
. I ran IS
extst. . npe
. ,.or .11. t4 is certain that this U.S.-IMaeli collaboration includes Amer-
ican backing for the Israeli "option to threaten its faraway
"Apparently the Americans stilJ don' t have well-crystal- enemies" by nuclear means. In this he may be right, if by
lized plans," Amir continues, but the surest way to destabili~e "Americans" he means the Pentagon, the CIA, and their
the already shaky regime is by exacerbating economic con- firmest supporters. But as he himself describes it, "a strident
ditions for the Iranian masses through sanctions and other anti-nuclear lobby exists in the U.S." 17
trade manipulations. Oil exports- 90 percent of the Iranian Abaronso n sees a symbiotic relationship between the U.S.
economy- are the most vulnerable pressure point. Another and Israel. In developing their nuclear weapons, be explains.
tactic, especially effective if used in conjunction with stimu- Iran, Algeriat 8 and Libya are motivated only by
lating Iranian domestic opposition, said Amir, would be to
persuade "Turkey or Pakistan to let their territories be used their anti -Western ideology, which makes it reasonable to
for military operations against their neighbor." expect that those weapons may also be used against the
Expanding on the need for Israel to form and exploit U.S. and other Western states. The existence of a pro-
coalitions, Yossi Melman,Ha'aretz's intelligence correspon- Western power with its own nuclear capacity is going to
dent , author of several books and expert on Israeli intel- considerably neutralize the Iranian or any ot her threat to
ligence, also noted the importance of lsraeli -'I'urkish the West ... .In view of that, Israel is in the position to
cooperation "against Iranian subversion" in countries to the convince the U.S. that the task of deterring our faraway
north of Iran. enemies - which arc also the enemies of the U.S.- by
our own nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, should
The western Europeans contribute to U.S. efforts to help be reserved for oursclvcs19
finance implementation of Turkish aims in Central Asia.
According to senior Israeli officials, Israel has been help- Daniel Lesbam, a retired senior Military Intelligence of-
ing Turkey promote those aims in its own ways .... Policy- ficer and member of the Center for Strategic Studies at Tel
makers in Israel believe that the U.S., Israel, and Turkey Aviv Univcrsity,20 expands on the practical uses of the nu-
have a common interest in establishing a stable regional clear threat . There is both danger and opportunity in playing
alignment of secular, moderate, and pro-Western regimes up lranian terrorism 10 create a "situation which would ap-
in the Middle East. As a recently issued document puts it, pear similar to that with Iraq before the G ulf crisis." Decrying
"Israel has an interest in strengthening Turkey for the sake the world's relative indifference to Iranian "terrorism,"
of the common goal of curbing Islamic fundamentalism. " 15 Lesham, who bas been involved in policy formulation, hopes
Israel will use its public relations machine ''to explain to the
The same policy goals apply in Azerbaijan where Israel
maintains good relations and a remarkable degree of in-
f!uence.16 17. Yo'av Kllsp•, AI Hamisllmor, February 19, 1993.
18. AltboughAigeruus no•·•,.•·Wcstem" ••lhcsamcwayll•u Iran and Ubya
an:.thc present rcalll'lc is ho.\IJleto Israel and supponlveorthe Palestinian cau.se.
Algeria, ror exumple hosts rn«hngs ofthe Palestinian National Council includ-
13. lnocrvicw by Yon! Melman. Ha'Dr<t~ May 13,1993. ing the last one in 1988. Given this alliance, the Israeli "pnny line" (Hasbaru)
14. Ibid. ~eeks to penuade the West that Algeria is anti-Western.
15. You• Melman, Ha '•r<tz. March 12. 1993. 19. Kasp~ op cit
16. Pazil Ratnna. DlzWJr (fnday Supplement), May 28, 1993. 20. Ibid.

FaU1993 CovertAction 61
world at large" how urgent is the need to persuade the world Since nearly all Israeli experts routinely discuss neutraliz-
to provoke Iran into war. 21 ing Iran when they address domestic audiences - rather than
speechifying to gullible foreigners- it would be a gross
We s hould take advantage of (Iran's) involvement in the mistake to dismiss the topic as simply rhetoric or disinforma-
Islamic terror which already hurts the entire world. Right tion. While there is always the possibility that the experts
now, Israel has incontestable intelligence that the Iranians may be wrong in assessing the Iranian nuclear threat, their
are about to resume kidnappings. We should take ad- virtual consensus that there is a danger, is politically sig-
vantage by persistently explaining to the world at large nificant.
that, by virtue of its involvement in terrorism, no other state
is as dangerous as Iran. For example, I cannot comprehend Middle East Hegemony
why Ubya has been hit by grievous sanctions- to the Israel is becoming increasingly open about the possibility of
point that all sales of military equipment to it are barred- exercising its nuclear option, even though pub.lic discussion
simply because of its rather minor involvement in ter- is often couched in talk about deterrence. "We need not be
rorism; while Iran, with its record of guiding terrorism ashamed," wrote Oded Brosh, a distinguished expert in nu-
against the entire world, remains S(:Ot-free of similar. or clear politics, "that the nuclear option, as a deterrent to
. . 22
even stnctcr, sanctions. attack, is a major instrument of our defense. The three big
democracies have relied on the same deterrent for decades."
Aharonson suggests the U.S. can help Israel demonize and The Israeli bomb, he implied, was a necessary strategic
isolate Iran by blockading Iranian coasts and by "stationing option. "Generally, in long-term security planning one can-
their warships and especially their nuclear submarines threat- not ignore the political factors. Israel must take into account,
23
eningly close to Iran. " Along the same lines, Ya 'akov Erez, for example, that the Saudi royal family is not going to rci~n
24
editor of Ma'ariv, proposes that Israel persuade the U.S. to forever, or that the Egyptian regime may also change." 5
enforce an embargo on exports of weaponry and other in- Precisely because of such political contingencies, Brosh as-
dustrial goods to Iran from any state, including North Korea. serts, Israel must remain free to use or threaten to usc its
nuclear weapons.
Erez justifies the blockade- which he thinks could be Brosh's analysis came> other implications as well: The
activated "without particular difficulties"- as a necessary very comparison of Israel'~ Mratcgic aims with those of the
safeguard to "western oil supplies." For decades, the U.S. bad U.S., Britain, and France illu~tratc:. Israel's ambition. If Is-
used this scenario against the Soviets- vociferously charg- rael is to become the regional superpower. it must establish
ing that the USSR was poised to close off the supply of world its hegemony over the entire Middle East.
oil by closing the Strait of Horrnuz. In the same vein, Erez There is one crucial difference, however. between Israel
assens that a U.S.-imposed blockade of Iran is important and "the three big democracies": Israel, rather than paying
because the Iranian threat to oil resources "is really far for its own nuclear development, is financed by the U.S. It is
greater than that caused by the invasion of Kuwait." If Iran essential, then, that the American Israeli Political Action
were to get the bomb, Sneh argues, "all Arab Gulf state~, and Committee (AIPAC), the organized segment of the American
thereby the sources of Western oil supplies, would thus be Jewish community, and its various allies ensure that Con-
exposed much more directly than they were at that time. It gress continues 10 foot the bill which now approaches $3.1
would no longer be a case of (Iraq] invading a single state billion. To that end, the U.S. public must be effectivel y
[Kuwait) and seizing its oil fields, but a direct threat to all deceived about Israel's real strategic aims.
immense spaces of the Arabian peninsula and to the freedom Another impediment to Israeli ambition is the limitations
of sailing in the GuJf." inherent in U.S. support. When U.S. interests diverge from
This scenario is intended to goad the U.S. and the Middle those of Israel, a~ they must from time to time, the U.S. will
East states into joining an Israeli-dominated alliance against be less likely to pay for or support Israeli policies or propaganda.
Iran. Without that coa.lition or the overthrow of the Iranian For the present, however, the U.S.-Israeli coalition is
regime through economic pressures and/or armed infiltra- strong. With the end of the Cold War and the dem1se of the
tions, Israel might act unilaterally and possibly with nuclear USSR, a vacuum was created hrael ·~!>!epping boldly mto
weapons. that opening. It 1s preparmg to e:.tablish overtly what it
always coveted covert ly: hegemony over the Midd le East.
And if the experts arc right, it will not shy from any means
21. 1/lid.
22. Leshllm quoted by Kaspi, op. cit., February 19, 1993. Thls anatysi5 was including nuclear ones to reach that end. Contrary to Gazit's
written bdore lhe World Trade Center bombing and bcrorc the Libyan nonsense about benevolent intent, this venture is designed to
4
' pilgrirm" arrived in Jerusalem. benefit neither the West , nor potentially unstable Middle East
23. Gvit, op. cit.
24. Ma 'ariv, is a newspaper currently owned by O!cr Nimrodi, the son of states, nor any interest except that of Israel itself. •
Ya'akov Ntmrodi. Before the fall of the Shah, Ya'akov had b«n an Israeli
military anaehe In Teltran and was very friendly with the Shah and some of his
higb·nntonc oO:Kt>ls. He later was implicated •• lnogroe for supplying
2S.Ho'ore<~ Apnl17.1992-
v.upons to Khometnt. (Era, Febrwuy 12- 1993.)

62 CovertAclion Number46
(PrivaJe Prisons, continued from p. 30)
Prlcor D.C. Prisoners Too Much for OMS
Once number three behind CCA and Wackenhut, Pricor
has taken a different tack from its competitors. It carved !lui
a specialized niche within the private prison industry by ome states export peaches, some ship
convincing underused county jails in rural Texas that they
could profit by accepting inmates from overcrowded national
and s tatewide prisons. After cutting its corporate teeth on
juvenile education and detention and halfway houses, expan·
S troublesome wastes across state lines,
but the District of Columbia has been
more ambitious. In 1989, it signed a contract
with Diversified Municipal Services. OMS then
sian into adult prisons must have seemed a natural s tep. In offered the cash- and job-poor Texas town of
1986, its first year of adult prison operations, Pricor opened Pecos an opportunity to profit from traffic in
minimum security detention facilities totaling 170 beds in overflow prisoners from the nation's capital.
Alabama and Virginia. By 1990, the company looked west to
OMS's first project, the Zavala County Deten-
Texas, with its seemingly unending supply of prisoners and
tion Center in Pecos, opened in 1989 with beds
profits. Soon, it operated or had contracts pending for six
for 226 prisoners.
500-bed county "jails for hire," mainly in underbudgeted and
underpopulated West Texas, and also with one 190-bed pre- The operators counted on low wage-scales
release center operated under contract with the Texas Depart- and design Innovations to turn a profit. They
ment of Corrections. Although Pricor, fueled by its West didn't count on D.C. prisoners for whom the
Texas operations, posted fiscal 1991 revenues of more than local guards were no match. The jail soon be-
$30 million for its adult corrections division, its Texas project came unmanageable. Eyewitnesses and legal
was in shumblcs by mid-199215 (See box p. 30) documents reported vats of home brew fer-
menting in the showers, roving gangs of base-
The Critiques of Prison Privatization ball bat-wielding Inmates, and eight escapes
Since the last round of prison privatization ended a century during the year the D.C. contract was in effect.
ago, a strong ethical and practical presumption has grown up
D.C. authorities, citing jail conditions as well as
that imprisonment should be solely a function of the state.
distance and cultural insensitivity, declined to
The practical challenge centers around the material self-
renew and transferred their surplus prisoners
interest of the various pro-privatization constituencies. There
are two broad areas of concern: efficiency, i.e., can private elsewhere.' Now, the jail is empty. the county's
operators be trusted to run prisons for less without sacrificing $4.5 million construction bonds are in default,
"quality of service"; and accountability, i.e., what oversight and OMS has moved on to greener pastures.
mechanisms will assure that society's interests come before But OMS's other prison projects, too, are brown-
those of the managing corporations. As to efficiency-leav- ing around the edges-two are on shaky finan-
ing aside for a moment critical questions about what "ef- cial ground, and a third houses no prisoners. 2 •
ficiency" means in prison operations-three well-designed I. Kyle Pope, "Prison Seller> Fail in Texas, Take Pitch East," HQUSton
comparative studies found that private operators did run Chronicle, March 3, 1992, p. I B: Mason, op. cit., pp. 1, 4.
prisons more cheaply without sacrificing "quality." 16 2. Pope, op. ciL, p. 3SR.
Typically, the studies found, Wackenhut and CCA were
able to provide cost savings of five to fifteen percent while
still maintaining high marks for provision of services. Even acknowledged to include, at best, deterrence and rehabilita-
in Texas, which has one of the lowest cost per prisoner rates, tion, or at least , reduction of recidivism rates. While there is
both Wackenhut and CCA came in cheaper. no definitive private-public comparative study on
But what about "efficiency"? If the term means nothing recidivism, the private prisons, as opposed to the state, have
more than the ability to house bodies cheaply while comply- a direct conflict of interest. By reducing the number of repeat
ing with minimal standards, then industry leaders, at least, offenders, they are in effect reducing the supply of profit-
appear to be efficient. Imprisonment , however, is generally producing "customers." It is in the material interest of these
companies, therefore, to produce not prisoners who have
"paid their debt to society," but ones who will continue to pay
15. Pricor, lncnrporauul, Annual Report, 1991, amended Form 10-K, Hied with
the U.S. Sccuritle.• and Exchange Commission. January 21,1992. p. 6. and pay on the installment plan.
16. Sec Samuel J. Brake!, "Prison Management. Prison Enterprise Style: The The question of accountability is a legal sinkhole. Under
Inmates' Evalu::uion," New England Journal on Criminal and Civil C6nfin~­ U.S. law, the stale is subject to constitutional restraints that
men~ November 14, 1988, pp. 175-244; C.H. Logan, Well Ktp<: Comporing
Qualiry of Confinement in a Public and a Private Pri.rt»1 (Washington, D.C: do not apply to private entities. With prisoners' rights already
Nauonallnslhute of Justice, 1991)~ and Texas Sunscl Advisory Commission, under attack from Congress and the federal courts, and with
"lnfonJ'IaliOn Report on Contracts and Correctional Facilily Setvica, .. Rtcom·
tMndoflons to IM GO>'<nwr of Taos and Memb<r1 of 1M 72nd Ltgislature ambiguous case law on private versus public liability, some
(Au.slln: Tuu SuM<:t Advisory Commission, 1991). Clloptcr S. legal scholars are worried. They fear that privatized prisons

Falll993 CovertAction 63
/

place inmates in a legal limbo- caught in a grey area MPrisons Are Built with Stones of Law..."
between the state and the private sector- unable to hold The practical arguments of prisoncrats and academics, as
either answerable for infringements of their constitutional weU as the more abstract philosophical and humanitarian
rights.t' objections of liberal critics, betray a certain myopic view of
Another accountability issue concerns monltoring. The the problem and thus of its solutions. To accept the current
profit-motive could cause private operations to cut corners; parameters of debate within the criminal justice community
leading to poor or unsafe conditions. Privatization propo· is to beg some questions not only about the role of private
nents argue that regulation and careful state monitoring of enterprise in corrections, but also and more fundamentally,
compliance will sufficiently protect inmates, but that conten· about the relationship between state and citizen (or alien) and
tion must come as cold comfort to prisoners who have already the function of imprisonment in contemporary America.
felt the tender mercies of the state. The record so far, how· By any criteria for cost-benefit analysis, crime and correc·
ever, shows that compared to the murderous outbreaks in tions policy in the U.S. is a dismal failure. Prisons neither
state penitentiaries, incidents of violence, riot, escape and the deter nor rehabilitate, nor do punishment variables seem to
like have been relatively rare in the private prisons. Ditect have any impact on crime.19 Granted, imprisonment does
comparisons are problematic, however, as CCA's Leaven· incapacitate and discipline offenders, but only while they
worth facility opened in 1992, is the first, and so far only, remain behind bars-and only a minuscule minority of pri·
private sector institution to handle maximum-security in· soners do not one day return to society. Prisons form a very
mates as its primary function. narrow platform from which to alter behavior that is shaped
by myriad factors, but these institutions, and the criminal
Doing Well Beats Doing Good justice system as a whole, are charged with precisely that task.
Aside from practical issues of superficially defined perfor· Given the failure of corrections to achieve its stated goals,
mance, there is the fundamental ethical question involved in however, it is appropriate to ask whether imprisonment
farming out the repressive functions of the state to private serves other, latent functions and what these functions might
interests: Should we, as a society, shift responsibility for the be. One role that imprisonment clearly fulfills is that of
ultimate sanction by which we measure normative behavior taking symbolic action agai nst socially defined deviants. It
to those whose motive is profit? The deep philosophical issue seems to matter less that prisons stop crime than that they
is perhaps unanswerable, but the ramifications are disturbing. give the appearance of do1ng so-or of doing something. In
a society unable or unwilling to address the fundamental
social and economic causes of cummality, this symbolic
action substitutes for substantive reform.
Imagine a full-fledged corporate Imprisonment also serves to demonstrate the disciplinary
power of the state. In Michel Foucault's view, the prison is
public relations campaign designed to the model, the point of origin, for the entire model of social
whip up crime hysteria in order to control that characterizes industrialized societies. lncarcera·
increase profits. tion is at one end of a sliding scale of socially imposed
surveillance and discipline. After two centuries of wide·
spread acceptance, its place on the continuum is distin·
guished mainly by the degree of day-to-day control and the
The most worrisome aspect of prison privatization is the physicality of its bars. The scale of control, in less extreme
inevitable emergence of a private "prison lobby" concerned and visible for~ however, extends throughout the institu-
not with social welfare but with increasing its dividends, not tions of society.
with doing good, but with doing wen. 18 Sentencing guide· As for the privatization of prisons, that industry. while a
lines, parole rules, corrections budgets, and new criminal deeply disturbing phenomenon, is not the fundamental prob-
legislation are areas in which private prison operators have a lem. Private prisons are a symptom, a response b~ private
vested interest and could influence policy decisions. They capital to the "opportunities" created by society's temper
could also benefit by manipulating public fear of crime. tantrum approach to the problem of criminality in the context
Unlike most other public policy arenas, criminal justice poli· of free-market supremacy. Dostoevsky once remarked that he
cy is largely determined not by the realities of crime but by measured the quality of a society by the quality of its prison.~.
its perception. That the fear of crime is exploited by poli· In the present case it may be as appropriate to judge us by
ticians and "reality television" programming is a truism; but their quantity, too . In either case, the judgment would be
imagine a full-fledged corporate public relations campaign de· harsh indeed. •
signed to whip up crime hysteria in order to increase profits.

17. Harold J. Swtivan. "Privatization: A Tbreacco Pruoncrs' Rlghli," in Bow·


mao. op. cit.. pp. 139-SS. 19. Jamieson aJid Flanllpn. cch.. op. cit.. pp. 427,612.
18. Mochlld Janus. "Bars oo tbe Iron Tri111gle: Public Policy Issues in cbe 20. This argwntlll wa. developed by Fn:nch plnlosopher Michel FoiJQOJII on
Privatizallon oC C<lm:ctions," in Bowman, op. dt.• pp. 1S-89. Discip/inultdPwrisiL·""Bird! oflhe Priwtt (New Yort: Random HoUS<, 1979).

64 CovertAction Number46

I
(N11clear Wasteland, continued f rom p . 45.)
professor at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and pockets. According to conservative estimates, it will take
chai r of the U.S. Department of Energy 's Environmental over $25 billion and at least 50 years just to clean up SRS's
Restoration Waste Management and Advisory Committee, is 400 contaminated s ites 51
pessimistic. "We can't be sure there will be technological Nationwide, cleanup costs could rival the bailout of the
breakthroughs in the future that will make cleanup techni- savings and loan industry and hinder efforts to balance the
ques more effective and less costly. History doesn't give us budget for years to come 52 "Various figures have been put
49
much confidence that will happen." forth to project the cost of the cleanup," says Paulson. "I've
DoE has not put a lot of money and effort into research seen the figure $200 billion. But no one really knows what
and development. "With a few exceptions, the same cleanup the final cost will be because we really don't know what we
techniques that were available close to 20 years ago are the are dealing with." 53
same ones available today," sa,Y,S Paulsen "They are often And that has been the problem all along. Military men
costly and not very effective. 50 With actual reduction of dreaming more potent weapons, government officials reap-
radioactive wru.1e an impractical goal , from the standpoint of ing political benefits, and corporations making huge profits
both technological capability and cost - cleanups simply have made decisions without knowing, and often without
shift t he poison from an immediately dangerous site to a caring, what they were dealing with. The hellish marriage of
potentially less dangerous one. profit and national security has spawned poisonous and near-
H igh Cost: And then there is the staggering cost of even ly immortal offspring. The cost will be subtracted from the
partial cleanup, most of which will be picked from taxpayers' health of the planet and the lives of its inhabitants. •
51. "Reactor's Rc<:q»ion Unfriendly." The Slme. Novanbcr 11, 198S, pp. I E. 3E.
49. Author's intciVicw. Fdlruary 10, 1993. 52. "What ls the Savannah River Plant and What Is Its Purpose?" op. cir.
50./bid. 53. Author's interview, February 18. 1993.

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Fall 1993 CovertAction 65


Letters Betsy Swart Replies:
Tom Hanahoc's re3carch into the acuvities tn
Pelican Bay Prison lance in the North th1ough tbc neutralization ohhe Ireland of the National Endowment ror Democrac-y
From May 8, 1990 unlit December 19, 1990, I wll! Sinn Fein Pany.' " I wrote that ••evidence suggests and other CIA·hnkod U.S. orgoni?.ations grea1ly
In Pelican Bay State Pri!on Security Housing Unit that the U.S. is seeking to accomplish two impor- enhanced my understanding o£ the continuing eon·
(PDSP~suu) and was one or the 250 civil suits men· tant goals in Ireland- the ending or the Oict there. I apologize for mL~;t.alcenly anrihuting
lioned in Dr. Weinstein's and Mr. CummiM' ;'The Republic 's military neutrality (through joining the phrase "progressive resistance" to him.
Clime of Punishment," (Spring 1993). I was trons· NATO) ond lhc undermining of the IRA, through Unfortunalely. though, Hanahoe missed my
(erred to the Vacaville, California Medical Facility neunalizing the IRA's high-profile political wing, main point I did not take a position enher for or
in February In a direct auempt by staff to moot the Sinn Fein." ag.airut che aCtivities of the IRA but anemp1ed to
complainl I (ilcd ~ncerning the inadequate diet Swan's insertion of "progrC$sive rcsislance'' gee beyond lhe demonizing rhecoric that has
which was •uravatin.a my diabecic condition. I am could Imply thai I repro Sinn Fein and tile IRA as ilrangled rno1t political commentary on 1he IRA
back at PBSP aow and want to corrcct some small progrculve/rdormlsl organizations. In faet, I for the past two dccadcs.lnstcad,l chose to explore
errors in I he aructc. made clear that the "proloogod IRA camp&~go or some oft he reasons~ b)' people have chosen to JOin
While there are video cameras in every conidor bombing. shooling, murder, inlimidaiJon and the IRA.
or the focillty, rh<,.. 4,.. •o lfiOifitors which look eeononuc sabotage.. 10 Nonhem lre,land is ter- Some people -like Barry O"Donncii-
dim:tl)' i•ro rio< ulls of a pod. ronsm- terronsm ignored by Ms, Swart 10 hc:r JOined because the Brihsh military has cut off
Also. to go to exercise. we exit our o:ll, strip. l rt1C5e. every opportunity for them to have a conventional
so through the routine (bend over 011d cough) and She seeks to ponray the rour IRA memben future. By the tame 0 'Donnell was 20, he knew be
re-d...,, oflen in front olfermle guards in the control around whom she has construCted her article as would never get a job, fmish his education, or be
booth, and then step through a solid steel donr. naive ''boys...who had decided to launch ...( a) Don allowed 10 emigrate co a country where he might
One last correction: While it is true that at the Ouixolc·hke attack ustng a genera] purpose ma,. have these ordinary opportunities. Furthermore, he
time or this article's publication we got only six chine gun'' agalnst an "invuJnerable" barrackt. The wa.• subjected to dally street harrass menl and fre-
Colorado t.v. Jtntions, as o[ June 30, the prison is I ruth, however, is somewha1 dirfercnt. quent psychological abuse in detention centers by
on cable and gels most major stations. Decisions - such a~; anned operation!- are British mJihary nnd police. Given these Cncts or
Every other fact mentioned in the arlicle is ta.ken by senior personnel, including lhe local In- life, he mode a choice to join the IRA. My hope in
pretty damned acc:uralc.ln fact, I witnessed a men- le.lligcncc Q([icer. In anack:ing the barracks, the poanlln& thii out is not 10 rally support for the IRA
lally·ill prisoner cell· extracted and bearen afler he four boys would have followed the explicit orderS but to rally support of human rights groups for
was handcuffed! Believe me msr.s~ru is hell! of a military command structure which sentlhem ~·~rtc hkc htm
As car as aeure appendicitis is concerned, I 10 then deaths. Perhaps ~fr Hanahoe does no1 accep1 the
sufferodonc on B-yard in Septembu 1991.1 bcpn ··ne boys had dnvc.o 1nto the car park where prcnusc 1Aa1 a "ar lS going on in Nonhern Irrland.
with severe patos tn the center of my diaphragm they hoped to bknd in with other local you1h$ Th.a1 S«ml 10 n"k the only reason why he l'"'Uid
and Slanod VIOlently vomiting. My cellie callod soe&ah21DJ Ihere.'"- i.e. to use them as unwitting criucu.e the: IRA 1 r taking decisions thai are the
"man down" and the M.T.A. and guards said I'd hurnon shieldJ lronlcally, bad these youlh$ been same dcc:ISIOIU a~ auhtary force \\Ould take in
just have to ..tough at out .. until the cljnic openo:t shot, 1he IRA would have usod the killing or in- whal u cons1dered a •<Att·:!l~ suuation.
in the morning. Thls was about 11:00 p.m. I puked nocc:nl loeal youiM by the Brios os propaganda. In the last 20 )UD. Bnu.sh sofdJcrs have been
all lli&ht and got no sleep. At 8:00 or 9:00 the next Use of dvilians is not unusual, as when the IRA responsable for trorc than 3SO eexplaan«< c1vthan
morntnJ, I was taken to tbe clinic, then to the forced Patsy Gillespie 10 drive a van loaded wilh a deaths In Nonhero Ireland. Collusion between
infirmary, and finally tO Sutter Coas1 Hospital bomb to the Buncrana Road Cbeckpoinl in Derry. British soldiers and loyalist param.thtanes hi.U
where they removed my appendix. The bomb killed five soldiers- and Gillespie. widened the rnngc of targets and Increased the
Lastly, I would like 10 ex:prcss my appreciation The 1RA's self·ponrayal as a patriotic armed number or killings. Tttousands or nationaliSij have
to CAQ ror the gift sub.scription. Also, let me close group fighting an imperialist power, Britain, hat been tortured and itnJ)risoned. There is no ball of
by 5aying lhot the hard·hilling reporting found in conferred a legitimacy ~md respectability that other rights In Nonhcrn Ireland. An accused person has
CAQ is some of the best, well-researched jour- terroriJt groups (such as Reagan's ' Freedom Fig.ht · no right 10 silence and can be imprisoned withoul
naJism I've ever reacl. en'- the Contras, UNITA, Renamo, etc.) have charge or trial Cor an unlimatcd lime.
In solldanly, not achieved. However, as in Nicaragua, Angola Funht-rmorc.. the nui.Jtary upholds a syuem of
Louis R. McCombs and Mo7..ambique. it IS the civilians who have been cconom1c apartheid in Nonhero Ireland whach n
Pelican Bay S<ate Prison the real vJctuns oftbc tc:rrorism in Northern Ireland. only comparable 10 that of Sou•h Afnca.
(CowrrAc1ion onen receives requests for galt sub· Over 3,000 people, maay or lbem civilians Much of thiS ••aerror" at the hands oft he~ )\em·
scriphons from pnsoncfl. We welcome conlnbu- killed by the IRA. have dlCd in the two decades of ment as unknown by the general U.S p-."-1~ It IS
toons (rom rudcrs carmartod ror that purpo.., ) otrrortSm wluch the p«>ple o£ Nonhem Ireland af.so hnle known m Ireland ""here iln ..gc-~ ccnsor-
1\.ave endured althe hands of the British forces and shtp la"s ClttSI. Mr. Han.ahoe·s ov.a letter u an
Who Are the Real Terrorists? 1he L.oyalut and 'Rcrublican' paramiUtanes. The example or the uncnltQ.I acccpgacc of 1bc: rhetonc
Your publicalion has a weU-earned reputation for callousness or the IRA can be judged from a recent o( terrorasm gca.:rated b~ Bnwb ~hUt) tnttl-
accuracy and objectivity- qualities sadly lacking wave of rrundless IRA bombings in urban areas hgencc and sputtered t:! ~'-c-r;. ma10stram mcd1a
in "Ireland's 1lugetcd Cenetation'' by Betsy Swan. which has created a reig,n o£ terror am.;:,ng the source In HaMbf,c '~- htAD! ofrcc:ent ·•c:3Jiou.s" and
M.s. Swart misquotes me twice. In the t'irst, on civilian urban population. ··mani.llu.' IRA tcrronsl auacks. he fatll 10 men·
page 51, she scmmbles the words of my original Add to Ihis the IRA-run proteetion and extoruon uon that {c" mJunes and no dea1h.11 rc.'iulted from
sentence in Top Secret magazjne. It should have rackets, their armed robberies, their takang of In• thc:h! 1ncadcnlJ. Hanahoe Jays thai the people of the
read: '4 the U.S. appears to have entered Northern noccnt civilian hostages» their execution and Nonh :ue lcrronzcd. More likely, British banking
lrcland'J political arena»promoting its own choice mAiming or civilians (suspected informers, sus- and financutllnslltutions are experiencing the ter-
or natlonallso political pany, the SDLP." pected criminab, car 'joy-riders• and others whose ror of deprccaaung capitaL
Tbe other misquote is more serious: .. Hanahoe only 'crime' appears to h.avc been that they were MeanwhJie, tbe vast majonty of human rights
contends thai U.S. tenlacles are tightening around Protellant), and one begins to get an accurate piC- violataon.s are perpeuated on the people of ~onh­
Ireland In an cffon to acx;omplish two main goals: ture of 1hc IRA-a picture rather different than ern Ireland by the Britis h government - a fact Mr
'[T)he ending of the Republic's military ncutr.~lily thai p31ntcd by Ms. Swan. Hanohoe takes hahtly.
through membetlhlp in the EC and NATO, and the TomHanahoe Betsy Swart
simultanc:oi.&S u.ndermaruog of progressive resis- Dubhn,lrdand ~h10gton, D.C.

66 Cover1Aclion Fall 1993

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